Does Illinois law require a bank to have a written policy covering elder financial exploitation?

We are not aware of any Illinois law that expressly requires a bank to have a written policy covering elder financial exploitation, except as noted below.

Illinois law does require financial institutions to provide financial exploitation training to employees and officers with direct customer contact every three years, and this law requires your bank to designate an officer who must create and maintain a record of each employee and officer who has satisfactorily completed the training.

In addition to such records, we recommend that banks maintain a written policy regarding their financial exploitation training program and maintenance of the required records. You can find sample policies and procedures in the IBA Compliance Connection Forms Library.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • Adult Protective Services Act, 320 ILCS 20/3.5(g-1) (“The Department [on Aging] shall also be responsible for the following activities, . . . developing by joint rulemaking with the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation minimum training standards which shall be used by financial institutions for their current and new employees with direct customer contact; . . .”)
  • Illinois Financial Exploitation Training Rules, 89 Ill. Adm. Code 271.120(a) (“A training program shall minimally include information on the following subjects: (1) recognizing the indicators of financial exploitation; (2) how to report financial exploitation of older adults.”)
  • Illinois Financial Exploitation Training Rules, 89 Ill. Adm. Code 271.120(b)  (“The training may be by in-person training or other media, such as a DVD, video tape or the Internet, and it must be at least 30 minutes in duration.”)
  • Illinois Financial Exploitation Training Rules, 89 Ill. Adm. Code 271.120(c) (“Current employees and officers of a financial institution on August 1, 2011 who have direct customer contact must satisfactorily complete financial exploitation training by February 1, 2012 and complete refresher training every three years thereafter.”)
  • Illinois Financial Exploitation Training Rules, 89 Ill. Adm. Code 271.130(a) (“An officer of each financial institution shall be designated to create and maintain a record of each employee and officer of the financial institution who has satisfactorily completed training.”)