Does Elder Financial Abuse require mandatory training in the State of California or would the training be considered a best practice?

How would your employees know how to report the activity or what red flags to look for ... if they are not trained?

In California, all bank employees and officers are "mandated reporters" for suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult under Welfare & Institutions Code section 15630.1.

Subdivision (f) of Section 15630.1 provides the following penalties for the failure to comply with the mandated reporting requirements:

(f) Failure to report financial abuse under this section shall be subject to a civil penalty not exceeding one thousand dollars
($1,000) or if the failure to report is willful, a civil penalty not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), which shall be paid by the financial institution that is the employer of the mandated reporter to the party bringing the action. Subdivision (h) of Section 15630 shall not apply to violations of this section.

In light of the fact the bank must pay the penalties for employees not making the required reports, doesn't it make sense for the bank to provide training to its employees so they can (and know how to) comply with their mandatory reporting requirements and prevent the bank from having to pay unnecessary penalties?

Many online training vendors offer a module.

Al

"Preventing Elder Financial Exploitation: How Banks Can Help" is a video produced by the California Bankers Association a few years ago. As they've posted it on YouTube, I believe they intend for it to be in the public domain and available for all banks to use.

As the video does not mention California or reference any legal requirements specific to that state, it is almost generic; i.e. it could be used elsewhere. It's a little camp, but more than adequate for frontline training that I think is essential for BSA related purposes regardless of whether the state labels banks as voluntary or mandatory reporters of elder exploitation.

Quite a member and public service from the CBA, in my opinion.