AARP's BankSafe
AARP Program contact
Jilenne Gunther
National Director, BankSafe
202-434-3869
jgunther@aarp.org
NAIFA Program contact
Suzanne Carawan
VP, Marketing & Communications
703-770-8402
scarawan@naifa.org
BankSafe Initiative
Free Training for NAIFA Members
Previously created for employees of banks and credit unions, AARP has adapted the program to agents & advisors understanding that we're often the first line of protection to spot financial exploitation and adhere to the highest code of ethics.
The total training time is only 60 minutes and includes five modules:
- Understanding Exploitation
- Recognize the Red Flags
- Stand Up and Speak Out
- Reporting and Activating a Network of Support
- Next Steps
Once you have completed the training, you can apply for yourself (independent) or your firm/company to receive a seal of verification.To maintain your verification, you will need to repeat the training on an annual basis.
Again, this is of no cost to NAIFA members.
Webinar: Empower Advisors & Fight Exploitation
On-Demand
Jilenne Gunther, MSW, JD
National Director of BankSafe
Learn about AARP’s BankSafe training—a free, award-winning online platform that helps financial advisors identify potential financial exploitation and take actions to stop the money before it leaves the account. Get a sneak peek of the training’s interactive learning modules and tools, including games, interactive videos, real-life scenarios and more.
Watch On-Demand
The BankSafe Initiative
The BankSafe Initiative helps the financial industry better meet consumers’ financial needs and safeguard their assets. The initiative focuses on four key areas:
- Preventing financial exploitation
- Empowering family caregivers
- Helping those with dementia
- Making banking tools and environments easier to access
Empower Staff and Fight Financial Exploitation
With the average victim losing $120,000, prevention of financial exploitation is critical to AARP’s mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. BankSafe meets this need by conducting research into consumer insights, facilitating partnerships between the aging network and the financial industry, and developing the innovative BankSafe training platform to help financial professionals identify and stop suspected exploitation.
AARP’s BankSafe training combines industry knowledge and experience with a state-of-the-art, online learning experience. AARP worked with more than 2,000 financial industry professionals to develop the training platform’s content and interactive scenarios. The platform is one of few designed specifically for frontline staff, supervisors, financial advisors and compliance officers.
Users learn how to identify potential financial exploitation and take the right actions to stop it. In fact, researchers from Virginia Tech Center for Gerontology found that employees trained with AARP BankSafe were able to save an average of 12 times more money per employee from financial exploitation than employees trained with other methods. To learn more, please read the full report or report summary.
Register
To get going on your BankSafe verification, please visit the AARP BankSafe site for a step-by-step registration process. Please note that some of the questions may not apply to you such as "employees", but remember that this is the first time AARP has adapted the program to allow agents and advisors to tap into this training course.