Context

• Age UK is the leading UK charity addressing the needs of older people. AARP is a non-profit, non-partisan US organisation with a membership of nearly 38 million, dedicated to the needs and interests of Americans aged 50+.
• Older people are a substantial part of the economy in the USA and UK and essential customers for the banking industry. In the USA, economic activity arising from the spending of those aged 50+ in 2012 amounted to US $7.1 trillion. In the UK in 2013, those aged 65+accounted for household spending of £145 billion. However, older people face a range of challenges in using banking and payment systems.
• Issues affecting older people include changes in hearing, vision and mobility; cognitive decline; digital exclusion; the management of finances by carers and being targeted for financial exploitation.
• ‘Age-friendly banking’ is defined as banking services, products and facilities that remain accessible and easy-to-use as people age, assist caregivers and prevent financial exploitation.

The study

• The report produced by Age UK and AARP aims to provide a blueprint of proven solutions that banks use to fight exploitation and promote age-friendly services.
• It draws on previous reports published by Age UK including The Way We Pay (2011) and Financial Resilience in Later Life (2014), plus the findings from two workshops on age-friendly banking in Leicester (August 2015) and Abergavenny (September 2015).
• Thirteen case studies illustrating best practice in age-friendly services are presented.

Key findings

• • Banking is often a non-exclusive relationship – most participants in the workshops had at least two accounts. Banks therefore should think in terms of having a shared customer base which, with retrenchment of the traditional branch network, could be served by shared solutions to customer needs, including shared branches.
  • A minority of older people use Internet banking (23% of those aged 65+ in 2013: source ONS) and many older people have a strong preference for in-branch banking.
  • Many older people are worried about Internet security and are not on-line - a majority of people aged 75+ and nearly four fifths of those aged 75+ in the ‘DE’ social groups are not on-line. (Ofcom, 2014.)
  • Many older people are concerned about the security of on-street ATMs, especially those aged 75+.
  • Older people value some electronic payments but still like cheques and many like paper statements.
• • Better systems for detecting and stopping scams in live time
  • Appropriate flexibility in ID checks
  • Better ways of ‘passing security’
  • Improvements in carer banking
  • Understanding vulnerability
  • Age-friendly technology
  • Better call systems
  • Listen carefully and speak clearly
  • Shared branches
  • Pathways to better interest rates
  • Remove blanket age restrictions on financial products
• • Detecting and stopping financial scams - the Coventry Building Society has responded with a combination of anti-fraud messaging, campaigns in branches, improved staff training and more sophisticated ways of reacting to scams as they happen.
  • Enabling caregivers to assist with banking – Lloyds Banking Group (UK) developed an improved system for registering Power of Attorney, giving customers an efficient, one visit experience, with the PoA being correctly recorded within one hour at the customer’s branch.
  • Accessible branch banking – RBS provides mobile bank branches - as of January 2016, RBS Group operated 22 mobile branch routes in Scotland, 14 in England and Wales and one in Northern Ireland, covering over 11,000 miles and serving 600 communities each week.
  • Designing banking services to be age-friendly - Every Nationwide branch contains a Helping Hand unit, which is a kit that has been designed to help customers who may need additional assistance as a result of conditions such as arthritis, sight loss and restricted mobility.
  • Better call handling systems - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest have removed target call handling times

Points to consider

• Many of the findings appear to be based on two workshops, with no information on the numbers of participants. It may be that some evidence is from previously published reports, but this is not made clear.
• This report will be relevant to those interested in issues around financial inclusion, particularly in the banking sector. Issues that are pertinent to older people may also be relevant to other groups e.g. people who are digitally excluded, people with health impairments.
• Case studies are useful in illustrating best practice in age-friendly banking.

Full report

Age-friendly banking: What it is and how you do it - full report