Canadian banks need to do more to stop
Former Australian banking exec says banks should make sure services aren’t weaponized by abusers.
Emma Parsons had blocked her ex-boyfriend on her phone and all of her social media sites after he sent her unpleasant texts.
“They were very abusive messages,” the Ottawa nursing student explained. “They were cruel. They were attempting to ridicule and bully me, telling me how horrible I was.
He even utilized faked phone numbers to break through the barrier she had attempted to construct for herself. That’s when she began receiving e-transfers from him with nasty remarks attached. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
“The first one was $1, and then I think the other ones were less than $5,” she told me. “I was completely astonished. I was astonished that he would send an e-transfer.
Parsons claims she was too ashamed and uncomfortable to report the e-transfers to the bank or police.
I don’t feel like they’d take me seriously enough,” she said. “The police would probably be like, ‘Oh, here’s your case number. See you in a few years.”
But when she and her mother, Carmen, heard how a woman in Sault Ste, Marie, Ont., had received a flurry of abusive and threatening e-transfers before her ex murdered her in October, they decided to speak out. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
“People need to know that this happens and that maybe there’s things that we can do about it,” said Carmen.
Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) say Canadian banks should step up and do more to protect victims from abuse on their platforms, as some other nations do.
The Canadian Bankers Association says its members have some procedures in place to protect clients and are constantly looking for methods to counteract exploitation, but it does not provide many details. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
According to several IPV survivors, banks aren’t doing nearly enough to prevent abusive communications like these from reaching customers.
Australia sets an example
It’s a problem the banking industry in Australia decided to tackle head on after a shocking and high-profile domestic violence case in 2014 involving the murder of an 11-year-old boy by his father, a man with a long history of abusive behaviour. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
“We just saw that and said, ‘We can’t look away. We need to make changes.'” said Catherine Fitzpatrick, a former banking executive with the country’s largest bank and a financial safety consultant. “A lot of other sectors have followed suit. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
“What we decided in Australia was that it couldn’t be just one bank that moved on this. It needed to be everybody.”
Fitzpatrick’s data team at Commonwealth Bank analyzed 11 million transactions in a three-month period and found more than 8,000 customers who had experienced what she described as “abusive messages” through their bank accounts. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
“I read one that was a series of 900 messages one sent at a time saying things like, ‘I want to kill you. I want to kill them all,'” Fitzpatrick said.
Australian banks have since implemented a number of measures to prevent abusers from misusing banking platforms, including the introduction of AI software that blocks messages containing abusive language and in-app self-reporting tools that allow survivors to flag abusive messages to banks as soon as they arrive.
Two banks, in particular, issued warning letters to customers who exhibited hostile behavior. Fitzpatrick added that in 90% of those cases, inappropriate behavior on financial networks was averted. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
Fourteen Australian banks also include financial abuse clauses in their terms and conditions, which clearly state that if a client engages in abuse on their platform, their account may be terminated or suspended.
The measures undertaken in Australia have blocked more than a million abusive messages in real time since 2020, Fitzpatrick said.
She shared the Australian banking industry’s experiences and solutions with the International Banking Federation at a meeting on Oct. 27, 2022, where she also introduced Commonwealth Bank’s software. The program that weeds out abusive words is now being shared for free with banks worldwide.
“I think every bank around the world should be implementing the blocks and certainly detecting the patterns and the abuse in bank accounts,” she said. “We have the technology and it is freely available now. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
Fitzpatrick describes financial abuse as a powerful weapon used against survivors that businesses need to disrupt.
I would really encourage every bank in Canada to look at the way the Australian banks, some of the U.K. and the New Zealand banks are starting to move on this problem,” she said.
Canadian banks respond
CBC News contacted five of Canada’s major banks, Scotiabank, the Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Toronto Dominion Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada asking if any of them had implemented measures to prevent this type of financial abuse.
CBC News also asked the five major Canadian banks if they have added intimate partner clause clauses to their terms and conditions. They did not respond.
All five banks deferred to the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA), which represents more than 60 domestic and foreign banks operating in Canada.
The CBA issued an email statement saying its members have policies and procedures in place to protect impacted customers from harassment and other forms of abuse.
The statement encourages clients experiencing abuse to report it to their bank and law enforcement and noted they can withdraw banking services from people engaging in abusive behaviour. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
The CBA also said “banks are continuously exploring ways to combat any form of abuse, including technology-facilitated financial abuse, while managing legal, privacy and operational considerations. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
No other specifics were provided despite CBC News’s repeated requests for more details and clarity.
Interac also provided an email statement saying using its payment service to facilitate abuse and harassment is against its Terms of Use. The company said it is committed to enhancing its services to help customers but offered few specifics. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
IPV survivor wants banks to be proactive
One IPV survivor in Quebec is frustrated that Canadian banks don’t seem to be doing more.
The woman, who CBC is not identifying due to concerns about her personal safety, would like to see banks here be more proactive by implementing programs like the one offered by Commonwealth Bank that blocks abusive messages.
“I’m highly disappointed,” she said. “It would frustrate me to think that banks are continuing to make profits, even in the economic state that we are currently in, and yet they would not deem it important enough to invest money in setting up some kind of a system like that. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
The woman, who receives alimony and child support payments from her husband, showed CBC News a series of e-transfers in which her ex either ridiculed her or set up security questions that required her to trash herself in order to access the funds.
“When you are waiting for the money to pay for your bills, you can’t exactly say to the aggressive person ‘Please ask me a nice question,'” she told me. “You kind of have to bend over and accept what is coming to you. Canadian banks need to do more to stop
Carmen and Emma Parsons are also disappointed that there doesn’t appear to be much movement on the issue from Canadian banks.
“Why do we wait until someone tells them they have to? Especially in this case where it’s doing good and would be useful and helpful,” Carmen said.
