THE COMMONWEALTH Bank has joined the fight against elder abuse.
Its new Safe and Savvy awareness program is being rolled out across branches in a bid to help older Australians protect themselves from financial abuse.
The bank's Customer Advocate Brendan French said greater action is needed now to protect older Australians from financial abuse, scams and fraud.
"Elder financial abuse is devastating in its impact and can happen to anyone," Dr French said.
"Banks must play a central role in raising awareness of the issue and helping to protect customers from financial abuse, scams and fraud. The Safe and Savvy program will improve the skills of our employees to identify elder financial abuse and provide practical advice on tips and traps to older customers and their families.
"Training will soon be rolled out to our teams in nearly 1000 branches nationwide so they can recognise and report signs of elder abuse, and I'd encourage customers to visit their local branch and learn how they can protect themselves. A detailed Safe and Savvy guide will be available for customers online in the coming week and in all of our branches from July."
The guide will be available from June 18.