tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/financial-abuse-27556/articlesfinancial abuse – The Conversation2024-03-13T14:22:57Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2253022024-03-13T14:22:57Z2024-03-13T14:22:57ZFinancial abuse from an intimate partner? Three ways you can protect yourself<p><a href="https://www.divorcelaws.co.za/what-is-financial-abuse.html">Financial abuse</a> occurs when one person takes control over another person’s ability to acquire, use and maintain financial resources. An example is being denied access to your own funds or being forced to deposit your salary into a joint bank account but not having access to the account. It could also take place when large withdrawals are made from joint bank accounts without any explanation. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.isdj.org.za/">Institute for Social Development and Justice</a>, a South African non-profit company, financial abuse can vary and change shape or form but happens when access to economic opportunities is controlled or limited by an intimate partner. </p>
<p>This can happen when your partner withholds financial information or hides money from you. Another example is when your partner refuses to allow you to work, thereby controlling your ability to earn an income. Or being coerced into paying for most of the household expenses when you earn less than your partner. Alternatively, it can happen when the abuser racks up debt on a credit card, knowing the card is not in their name. </p>
<p>South Africa’s <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2021-014.pdf">Domestic Violence Act</a> identifies financial abuse as a criminal act. Several other African countries, such as Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe also recognise it to be a criminal offence. But it remains largely unprosecuted.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, financial abuse is not a new problem. Over the years, my <a href="https://researchprofiles.canberra.edu.au/en/persons/bomikazi-zeka">research</a> has found that the proper use of financial services can help those in disadvantaged situations to turn income into wealth. But when money is entangled with relationships, it can become a tricky situation to navigate. </p>
<p>Financial abuse can happen to anyone, irrespective of age, gender, marital status, employment status or income levels. When financial abuse occurs, it is women who are more likely to see their financial security threatened should the dynamics in a relationship take a turn for the worse. Women are more likely to experience financial abuse since it can happen in tandem with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10896-023-00639-y">other forms of abuse</a>. </p>
<p>When you know the signs, you can put the following three measures in place to increase your financial safety: prevent, prepare and protect. </p>
<h2>Prevent</h2>
<p>Knowing your partner’s financial history is an important starting point in preventing financial abuse. Ask about how they have managed their debt in the past (and how they got into it in the first place) or whether they are actively saving money. </p>
<p>Broaching the money-talk conversation is difficult but this information should give you insight into their past financial behaviours which could influence and explain future financial behaviours. </p>
<p>Another strategy in prevention is asking about their attitudes towards money in relationships. For instance, do they believe that gender roles influence who manages money? Engaging in this topic early can also help you set boundaries about how money is managed within the relationship. </p>
<h2>Prepare</h2>
<p>Learning the signs of financial abuse can help you be prepared. If you suspect that financial abuse is beginning to emerge then keep close tabs on it by documenting all the evidence. This is important because an abuser may gaslight you into thinking you’re exaggerating, especially when the signs are subtle. Document as much evidence as you can and ensure you have copies of all important legal documents as this will help you, should you require legal assistance. </p>
<p>If you don’t already have one, speak to a financial advisor about how you can protect your finances and assets. </p>
<h2>Protect</h2>
<p>As far as possible, keep an independent source of income as this reduces any likelihood of dependency on a partner. Financial dependency can lead to feelings of isolation and hopelessness, which makes it more difficult to leave an abuser because they control the finances. </p>
<p>Another way you can protect your financial position is by making sure you don’t sign any documents you don’t understand. Often abusers will acquire financial assets in their partner’s name and leave them with the financial burden of the repayments, thereby entrapping them through debt. </p>
<h2>Getting help</h2>
<p>While the measures outlined here are not exhaustive, they are a good starting point to think about when your finances are merged with someone else’s. </p>
<p>If you are concerned about your financial safety, there are ways to get help. FIDA-Kenya, a women’s rights organisation in Kenya, offers <a href="https://www.fida-kenya.org/">free legal aid</a>. In Nigeria, the Women at Risk International Foundation operates a 24-hour confidential toll-free <a href="https://warifng.org/contact-us/">helpline</a>. </p>
<p>You can access free counselling from a social worker via the South African Department of Social Development’s <a href="https://gbv.org.za/about-us/">website</a>, which provides a call centre facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The call centre operates an emergency line number on 0800 428 428. You can visit the <a href="https://thewarriorproject.org.za/helplines/">website</a> of the Warrior Project, a non-profit organisation, for more information on helplines and resources.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bomikazi Zeka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When money is entangled with relationships, it can often become a tricky situation.Bomikazi Zeka, Assistant Professor in Finance and Financial Planning, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2246322024-03-08T05:51:37Z2024-03-08T05:51:37ZInsurance is the latest weapon financial abusers use against their partners. Here’s how we fix it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579740/original/file-20240305-22-zho482.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C10%2C6689%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
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<p>They knew we had separated. Why did they let him cancel the policy and refund him the money without giving me a call to let me know the house and contents were no longer insured, or not do it before speaking to me first?</p>
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<p>These are the words of Maddy (not her real name). Her experience of domestic and family violence was compounded by the acts of the insurance company she thought would give her financial protection.</p>
<p>Maddy’s former partner cancelled their home and contents insurance with a simple phone call. He received a refund of the premiums she had paid just a few months earlier. She didn’t know – not until well after he threatened to burn down the house with Maddy and the children in it. </p>
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<p>If he had followed through with his threat I would have been punished too and made to pay the mortgage for a house that we couldn’t live in and not be able to rebuild because insurance wouldn’t cover it.</p>
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<p>Maddy is one of the women who described how insurance is being misused as a weapon of financial abuse, for my second <a href="https://cwes.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/CWES_DTD-GI_Issue2_FINAL_Singles.pdf">Designed to Disrupt report</a>. Their personal accounts highlight the need for systemic change.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/banks-put-family-violence-perpetrators-on-notice-stop-using-accounts-to-commit-abuse-or-risk-being-debanked-208575">Banks put family violence perpetrators on notice. Stop using accounts to commit abuse or risk being 'debanked'</a>
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<h2>Insurance as a weapon</h2>
<p>General insurance is designed to provide financial protection from unexpected events. It’s supposed to be an affordable way to repair or replace an asset that is lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed. </p>
<p>But too often, victim-survivors of domestic and family violence find they don’t have the coverage they thought. They may be left without a car, or a home, and with no or limited means to pay to restore their financial safety and economic security.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580043/original/file-20240306-20-aplow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man pointing out terms in some paperwork to a woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580043/original/file-20240306-20-aplow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580043/original/file-20240306-20-aplow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580043/original/file-20240306-20-aplow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580043/original/file-20240306-20-aplow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580043/original/file-20240306-20-aplow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580043/original/file-20240306-20-aplow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580043/original/file-20240306-20-aplow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Domestic violence victim-survivors can find they have less insurance coverage than they thought, or none at all.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/real-estate-agent-closes-deal-client-2256175877">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>There is limited data about the extent of the problem. But through desktop research and consultation with those with who’ve experienced it, and with consumer advocates and industry, we found the biggest issue is with joint policies. </p>
<p>Financial abusers exploit general insurance policies and procedures to deny access to information, cancel policies, interfere with the claims process, and to steal, limit or withhold payouts to the victim-survivor. </p>
<p>They aim to exert control by leaving their partner with no money, damaged or irreparable property and assets, and the accompanying emotional toll. </p>
<h2>Differing policies and procedures</h2>
<p>While some insurers have specialist teams to deal with these sorts of cases, there is a lack of standardised practices across the industry. </p>
<p>Results of our survey reveal wild variations in data between companies, with the number of domestic violence and financial abuse cases reported ranging from 11 to more than 2,000 in the 2021–22 financial year.</p>
<p>This means some victim-survivors will receive support that is empathetic and understands the affects of trauma, with flexibility for individual solutions. Others continue to struggle with dismissive or judgemental staff, risks to their safety, or compounding financial hardship. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-unemployment-and-less-income-how-domestic-violence-costs-women-financially-204688">Higher unemployment and less income: how domestic violence costs women financially</a>
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<p>We asked whether any insurance company used modelling to estimate the risk or extent of property damage related to domestic and family violence. None did. </p>
<p>Yet it has been estimated that “consumption costs” (such as replacing damaged property, defaulting on bad debts, and the cost of moving) of partner violence against women and their children in 2021–22 could be $3.5 billion, including $202 million in damaged and destroyed property. <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/vawc_economic_report.pdf">Most</a> of these costs are borne by victim-survivors and family and friends.</p>
<h2>What needs to happen?</h2>
<p>To address these issues with joint policies, three changes are needed:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>close the loopholes that enable perpetrators to cancel insurance policies without the knowledge or consent of victim-survivors</p></li>
<li><p>introduce a “conduct of others” clause as a standard part of every insurance contract, enabling victim-survivors to make a claim when perpetrators deliberately damage property</p></li>
<li><p>modernise the law so insurance products can be redesigned with features that protect against financial abuse. </p></li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580045/original/file-20240306-24-akojh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The silhouette of a woman looking down in a dark room" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580045/original/file-20240306-24-akojh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580045/original/file-20240306-24-akojh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580045/original/file-20240306-24-akojh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580045/original/file-20240306-24-akojh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580045/original/file-20240306-24-akojh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580045/original/file-20240306-24-akojh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580045/original/file-20240306-24-akojh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Financial abuse through insurance can compound the negative affects of domestic and family violence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/trouble-problem-concept-domestic-violence-upset-2076039835">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>As a starting point, every general insurer should denounce financial abuse in their terms and conditions – following the lead of the Australian banking industry. So far, 14 banks have adopted this recommendation and are refusing to tolerate misuse of their products as a tactic of coercive control. </p>
<p>These changes would build on the significant progress the general insurance industry has made to support victim-survivors and drive greater consistency. The General Insurance Code of Practice sets a benchmark for self-regulation, and detailed guidance outlines better customer service practices for those experiencing domestic and family violence. All insurers are required to have a domestic and family violence policy, and some insurers have set up specialist teams and provided extra training. </p>
<p>The law also needs to be modernised because it’s stifling changes that would give victim-survivors better protection. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-care-becomes-control-financial-abuse-cuts-across-cultures-70754">When care becomes control - financial abuse cuts across cultures</a>
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<p>The Insurance Contracts Act was written in 1984, just ten years after the first modern women’s refuge was established in Australia and well before domestic and family violence became an urgent national conversation. </p>
<p>Despite calls in <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-08/p2004-review-insurance-contracts-act-1984-final-report_1.pdf">2004</a> and <a href="https://financialrights.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/210823_FamilyViolenceResearch_FINAL.pdf">2021</a> for the law to address cases in which a victim-survivor was denied a claim because of a wilful act or other breach by the perpetrator, legislation remains unchanged. Yet this type of behaviour is one of the <a href="https://www.allianz.com.au/content/dam/onemarketing/aal/au_site/documents/about-us/understanding-family-violence-and-the-risks-of-insurance.pdf">most common</a> ways insurance is used in family violence. </p>
<p>Two insurers, <a href="https://www.aami.com.au/aami/documents/personal/home/aami-home-building-insurance-pds.pdf">AAMI</a> and <a href="https://www.suncorp.com.au/content/dam/suncorp/insurance/suncorp-insurance/documents/home-and-contents/home/suncorp-insurance-home-contents-insurance-product-disclosure-statement.pdf">Suncorp</a>, have introduced a “conduct of others” clause to provide flexibility to pay a claim in these cases, even where there is no legal requirement to do so. </p>
<p>While these are positive moves, it’s slow progress. It’s time Australian insurers and regulators addressed this gap.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Fitzpatrick is Founder and Director of Flequity Ventures, a social enterprise which aims to disrupt financial abuse and gender bias through more flexible, safe and equitable product and service design. She received funding from the Centre for Women's Economic Safety to write the Designed to Disrupt report and continues to be affiliated. She is a former bank executive with roles managing customer complaints including those related to general insurance, domestic violence support and government relations. She has previously been engaged by the Insurance Council of Australia to provide guidance on safety by design in insurance.</span></em></p>Insurance is supposed to be a safety net, but it can be weaponised in domestic and family violence situations. There’s a lot we can do to better protect victim-survivors.Catherine Fitzpatrick, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2090652023-09-01T12:52:47Z2023-09-01T12:52:47Z‘I almost lost my will to live’: preference for sons is leaving young women in China exploited and abused<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540757/original/file-20230802-29-17av69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=122%2C30%2C3967%2C2115&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asian-depressed-woman-sitting-on-couch-2141414273">aslysun/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>China has a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/02/chinas-great-gender-crisis">gender crisis</a>. The country has <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/251129/population-in-china-by-gender/">a huge surplus of men</a> – around 722 million compared to 690 million women in 2022. This is largely because of <a href="https://jhr.uwpress.org/content/45/1/87.short">sex-selective abortions</a> linked to China’s one-child policy, which ended in 2015. </p>
<p>Though popular belief is that the policy was strictly enforced, many Chinese couples managed to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/18/world/asia/china-one-child-policy/index.html">have more than one child</a> by paying fines, accepting benefit deprivations, or proclaiming their membership of a minority ethnic group. Often, they chose to do so because their first child was a girl. The one-child policy lasted three and a half decades, replaced by the two-child policy in 2016 and the three-child policy in 2021. But even today, the belief that boys have more value than girls persists. </p>
<p>Traditionally, having a male heir is believed essential in continuing the family bloodline and surname. Women, on the other hand, are expected to “marry out” of their kin into their husband’s family, where they become obliged to take care of their in-laws and produce sons. But in some families who also have sons, the daughters are expected to financially provide for their birth families too. </p>
<p>This cultural norm has affected the wellbeing of young women, many of whom now suffer from financial, labour and emotional abuse as a result of son preference.</p>
<p>Popular Chinese television series in recent years – <a href="https://www.weekinchina.com/2016/05/an-ode-for-women/">Ode to Joy (2016)</a>, <a href="https://chinafilminsider.com/tv-drama-highlights-gender-discrimination-in-chinese-families/">All is Well (2019)</a> and <a href="https://cyn-lynn.blogspot.com/2020/03/i-will-find-you-better-home-recap-and.html">I Will Find You a Better Home (2020)</a> – have sparked renewed attention to the family discrimination and ill-treatment that many female children continue to endure in contemporary Chinese society. </p>
<p>Many of these women have taken to social media to discuss their situation. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14705931231199386">In my recent research</a>, I studied some of the thousands of posts and video clips dedicated to the topic of son preference, posted on Chinese websites like Zhihu (a Q&A forum) and Bilibili (a video-sharing site). My findings show how difficult it is for women to break this exploitative relationship, even when they have grown up. </p>
<h2>‘I almost lost my will to live’</h2>
<p>In families with strong son preference, daughters are moulded from birth to understand that they are unworthy receivers of family resources, forever indebted to their family for being born. This contributes to a deep sense of insecurity and low self-esteem and leads to a lifelong obligation to repay their “debt” by providing for the family.</p>
<p>A second-year senior high school student (roughly equivalent to year 9 in England and Wales) commented on how her destiny is being shaped by expectations that she support her family financially. This has left her feeling worthless, unloved and even suicidal: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My mum has been very frank with me and keeps reminding me that, ‘I bring you up for old age security, you should give me how much a month later and you should provide for your younger brother and help with his studies financially.’ I have never felt loved, and I am always eager to be loved. I am insecure and I have very low self-esteem … I wanted to jump from stairs to commit suicide so that I could finally be happy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another post highlighted how son preference is instilled even in young girls, through misogynistic and demeaning remarks: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>When my auntie was pregnant and I was still little, my uncle told me that I must pray it’s going to be a little brother because only then we will get to eat chicken drumsticks. If it’s a sister, we will only eat chicken-shit.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One woman described the desperation she felt, being forced to provide for her family’s monthly living expenses. She wrote that during the Chinese New Year, she even gave the <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/festivals/red-envelop.htm">hongbao</a> (a monetary gift) that she had received from her boyfriend, to her mother. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>All my giving is a total bullshit. The first few months when I had my first job, I was pestered by them so much for money, I almost lost my will to live. Even though I have a boyfriend now, I am prepared for a break-up at any time. I wanted to know why when they knew I was a girl, they didn’t just strangle me to death.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Socially isolated</h2>
<p>Many commenters expressed their frustration and anger against the tradition. But others showed little sympathy, not understanding why these women don’t leave such abusive situations. </p>
<p>The struggles these women face are deeply culturally ingrained, due to values inherent in <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ID4gMCaLr0MC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Confucius+and+Confucianism:+the+essentials&ots=1M3UZssAi5&sig=Ci8OhBTlMPY34mq7Ft6O3Rtf81E#v=onepage&q=Confucius%20and%20Confucianism%3A%20the%20essentials&f=false">Confucianism</a> that emphasise male patrilineal descent and inheritance, as well as submission to parental authority. </p>
<p>Within families, these values are socialised from an early age, making them difficult patterns to break. It is hard for women from strong son preference families to find fulfilling relationships outside of them, as they become socially isolated and more entrenched in family expectations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An older Chinese woman with a younger woman in the background, speaking to her" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540759/original/file-20230802-17-t51soj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540759/original/file-20230802-17-t51soj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540759/original/file-20230802-17-t51soj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540759/original/file-20230802-17-t51soj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540759/original/file-20230802-17-t51soj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540759/original/file-20230802-17-t51soj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540759/original/file-20230802-17-t51soj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Harmful family values can be ingrained from an early age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asian-adult-daughter-talking-comforting-senior-2228647379">imtmphoto/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>While, in theory, these women are often financially independent and capable of managing their own relationships, they often lose their friendship circles and significant relationships over time. </p>
<p>Widespread beliefs persist among the general public, and men in particular, that devoted daughters will “drain your resources” to satisfy the endless demands and expenses of their natal family. Women are ridiculed as “Fu Di Mo” which translates into “monster of younger brother worshipping”. </p>
<p>Like in many western countries, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment has recently become <a href="https://china.unfpa.org/en/topics/gender-equality-and-women%E2%80%99s-empowerment">a priority</a> to addressing the gender imbalance and low fertility rate in China. The <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110614141458.htm">tradition of son preference</a> continues to cause emotional and social harm for girls in both rural villages and <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2016/10/modern-urban-china-still-prefer-sons/">modern, urban China</a>. </p>
<p>China urgently needs policies and intervention programmes that <a href="https://china.unfpa.org/en/news/changing-village-regulations-fight-son-preference-china-0">tackle this tradition</a>, or it will continue to limit women’s opportunities and their ability to reach their full potential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chih-Ling Liu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many young women feel trapped and indebted to their families.Chih-Ling Liu, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2085752023-07-04T02:11:08Z2023-07-04T02:11:08ZBanks put family violence perpetrators on notice. Stop using accounts to commit abuse or risk being ‘debanked’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535239/original/file-20230703-194046-95aav6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=389%2C117%2C5540%2C3666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Perpetrators of family violence will often use money to hurt and control their victims.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/financial-abuse?image_type=photo">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ella never knew when her credit card was going to be declined.</p>
<p>It happened when she was shopping for groceries with her kids, or refuelling the car. That’s when she would discover her partner had cancelled the card or lowered the limit so she couldn’t buy essentials. Again. </p>
<p>Ella* (not her real name) is one of <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/personal-safety-australia/latest-release#cohabiting-partner-violence-emotional-abuse-and-economic-abuse">about 1.6 million Australian women and 745,000 men</a> who have experienced economic or financial abuse. </p>
<p>Perpetrators of such abuse use money to control their victims, with devastating impact including stopping or limiting access to money, creating insurmountable debt and damaging a credit history.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-unemployment-and-less-income-how-domestic-violence-costs-women-financially-204688">Higher unemployment and less income: how domestic violence costs women financially</a>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.commbank.com.au/content/dam/caas/newsroom/docs/Cost%20of%20financial%20abuse%20in%20Australia.pdf">direct costs</a> to victim-survivors of financial abuse have been estimated at A$5.7 billion a year, with impact on the economy estimated at A$5.2 billion a year.</p>
<h2>The highly disruptive tactics used by abusers</h2>
<p>Perpetrators use a range of <a href="https://www.commbank.com.au/content/dam/commbank-assets/support/2020-11/unsw-report-1-financial-abuse-ipv.pdf">tactics</a>, some of which are inadvertently enabled by bank products and services. For example:</p>
<p>• credit cards are opened in the name of victim-survivors without their knowledge, potentially damaging credit scores </p>
<p>• all cash is withdrawn from joint accounts or redraw facilities without the consent of the other account holder</p>
<p>• legally binding property settlement orders to refinance home loans are ignored, forcing one party to seek help with repayments while trying to disentangle from their ex-partner</p>
<p>• payment descriptions are used to send threatening, abusive messages.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535233/original/file-20230703-252566-aa70gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C144%2C5691%2C3719&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman looks at the ATM in despair as she realises her bank account is empty." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535233/original/file-20230703-252566-aa70gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C144%2C5691%2C3719&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535233/original/file-20230703-252566-aa70gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535233/original/file-20230703-252566-aa70gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535233/original/file-20230703-252566-aa70gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535233/original/file-20230703-252566-aa70gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535233/original/file-20230703-252566-aa70gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535233/original/file-20230703-252566-aa70gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Money may be emptied from joint accounts or access may be blocked.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/financial-abuse?image_type=photo">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Banks typically respond to these issues case-by-case, tailoring solutions for each customer. However, it may be possible to eliminate or reduce the need for these interventions with improved product design to prevent and disrupt abusers.</p>
<h2>Taking action against perpetrators</h2>
<p>My first <a href="https://cwes.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/CWES_DesigntoDisrupt_1_Banking.pdf">Designed to Disrupt</a> discussion paper for the <a href="https://cwes.org.au/">Centre for Women’s Economic Safety</a> proposes a new “financial safety by design” framework that tailors the <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/industry/safety-by-design">eSafety Commissioner’s work with the technology sector</a> and provides greater protection for victim-survivors.</p>
<p>It outlines steps banks can take to prevent their products being used as a weapon in domestic and family violence.</p>
<p>Recommended measures include setting up every joint account with separate passwords, logins, and portals for each person so it’s simpler and safer to separate if the relationship ends or is abusive.</p>
<p>Two of Australia’s big four banks, the National Australia Bank and the Commonwealth Bank have already agreed to adopt the primary recommendation – to include financial abuse in product terms and conditions as a reason for suspension or closure of accounts.</p>
<p>It’s likely other banks will follow suit, with <a href="https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/media/media-releases/2022/22-november/">Westpac</a> signalling last November it would consider ensuring its terms and conditions reflect its no tolerance approach to financial abuse.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/women-who-suffer-domestic-violence-fare-much-worse-financially-after-separating-from-their-partner-new-data-190047">Women who suffer domestic violence fare much worse financially after separating from their partner: new data</a>
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<p><a href="https://media-cdn.ourwatch.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/18101814/Change-the-story-Our-Watch-AA.pdf">Evidence</a> shows that challenging the acceptance of violence against women is essential to respond to specific gendered drivers of violence.</p>
<p>In banking, this means spelling out the bank’s rules and its expectations of customer behaviour in its terms and conditions. These rules are the foundation of the contractual relationship with the customer and are relied on where there is a dispute.</p>
<h2>Banks taking the lead</h2>
<p><a href="https://news.nab.com.au/news/nab-takes-on-financial-abuse/">National Australia Bank</a> and Commonwealth Bank will change their terms and conditions to make it clear that financial abuse is unacceptable – just like financial crime or threatening call centre staff.</p>
<p>They will be the first Australian banks to signal to millions of bank customers they have a choice: abuse other customers and potentially lose access to their bank account, or behave with respect.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535237/original/file-20230703-267810-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman sitting on floor with bills scattered around her" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535237/original/file-20230703-267810-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535237/original/file-20230703-267810-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535237/original/file-20230703-267810-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535237/original/file-20230703-267810-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535237/original/file-20230703-267810-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535237/original/file-20230703-267810-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535237/original/file-20230703-267810-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Persistent abusers may be denied banking services.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/financial-abuse?image_type=photo">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>This will make it harder for people to misuse financial products as a means of coercive control. </p>
<p>Implementation will be complex and the banks will need to proceed with caution. Financial abuse is hard to detect and there may be risks to the abused partner if perpetrators blame them for the bank’s action.</p>
<h2>Consequences for abusers who fail to stop</h2>
<p>An abuser may continue their behaviour at another bank. In this instance, there is the option of “de-banking” the customer which is not only a major inconvenience but also denies them access to an essential service.</p>
<p>That’s why it’s important the whole industry moves on this. It is instructive to examine the collective approach the banks have already taken to disrupt technology-facilitated abuse through payment descriptions.</p>
<p>Notably, my research found two banks reported more than 90% of customers discontinued abuse following a warning letter. </p>
<p>Implementation of the new terms and conditions should be guided by the experience of victim-survivors. It could also be informed by the Council of Financial Regulators’ <a href="https://www.cfr.gov.au/publications/policy-statements-and-other-reports/2022/potential-policy-responses-to-de-banking-in-australia/pdf/potential-policy-responses-to-de-banking-in-australia.pdf">de-banking policy recommendations</a> on transparency and fairness measures.</p>
<p>These measures include providing documented reasons to the customer with 30 days’ notice before closing services and giving them access to internal dispute resolution.</p>
<h2>Getting the public on board</h2>
<p>There also needs to be a public conversation about what this means. Airlines make it clear jokes about terrorism are not okay, and patrons are ejected from sporting events for violence.</p>
<p>If every bank in Australia makes it clear there is a minimum expectation of respectful behaviour to be a customer, it would be a game changer. </p>
<p>The widespread adoption of financial abuse terms and conditions and broad public communication will send a strong message to everyone with a bank account that financial abuse is unacceptable and has consequences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Fitzpatrick consults to Westpac and owns shares in Westpac and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. She received funding from the Centre for Women's Economic Safety to write the Designed to Disrupt report and continues to be affiliated. She is a former bank executive and established and led specialist customer vulnerability teams at CBA and Westpac. </span></em></p>Two of Australia’s major banks have announced they will take action against financial abusers, including closing their accounts.Catherine Fitzpatrick, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2046882023-05-17T07:00:35Z2023-05-17T07:00:35ZHigher unemployment and less income: how domestic violence costs women financially<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524035/original/file-20230503-26-w24tq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5327%2C3546&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women in abusive relationships are more likely to be unemployed and earn less money than women with non-abusive partners. </p>
<p>That’s among the key findings confirmed by a <a href="https://www.minneapolisfed.org/research/institute-working-papers/the-dynamics-of-abusive-relationships">landmark international study</a> by researchers from England, America and Finland, which charted the economic impact abusive relationships have on women.</p>
<p>The study found that the deterioration in economic wellbeing started soon after women began living with an abusive male partner. After five years, these women continued to experience significant falls in earnings and employment. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revealed-the-hidden-problem-of-economic-abuse-in-australia-73764">Revealed: the hidden problem of economic abuse in Australia</a>
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<h2>What is economic abuse in a domestic relationship?</h2>
<p>We know from previous research that men use economic abuse to exert power over and exploit their female partners. </p>
<p>It can involve using intimidation, threats, humiliation, emotional manipulation, isolation and physical violence to restrict their partner’s right to work and access to property, including</p>
<ul>
<li><p>preventing her from taking a job</p></li>
<li><p>forcing her to resign</p></li>
<li><p>undermining her work performance</p></li>
<li><p>restricting the type of job they can do</p></li>
<li><p>preventing her from accessing bank accounts</p></li>
<li><p>excluding her from decision-making over household spending or joint property</p></li>
<li><p>preventing her from accessing joint financial assets</p></li>
<li><p>making her relinquish control over her property or income, or</p></li>
<li><p>compelling her to take on her partner’s debt.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>This abuse sabotages a woman’s independence and ability to leave the relationship by limiting her access to money and work outside the home.</p>
<p>Economic abuse is more common than many realise. A recent online <a href="https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/sb/sb30">survey</a> of 15,000 women in Australia found 11% had experienced coercive control. Of this group, just over half reported their partners had used their own or shared money without consent or made important financial decisions without consulting them.</p>
<h2>What did the new study set out to do?</h2>
<p>The new empirical <a href="https://www.minneapolisfed.org/research/institute-working-papers/the-dynamics-of-abusive-relationships">study</a> involved a data set of nearly 14,000 cohabiting couples. The study’s authors linked information from unusually comprehensive police and economic databases in Finland to chart men’s economic abuse of their female partners. </p>
<p>The researchers compared women who had reported domestic abuse to police with a matched sample of women who had not reported abuse.</p>
<p>By employing a relatively long time span (from 2006 to 2019), the study was able to chart the points at which physical violence and economic abuse most frequently occurred. </p>
<p>The researchers were also able to identify if the women had been in a non-abusive relationship. This allowed them to compare economic outcomes in both situations.</p>
<h2>What did the new study find?</h2>
<p>When women in abusive and non-abusive relationships were compared after five years living with a partner, the employment rates for those in abusive relationships fell 12% and their earnings declined 26% relative to their situation before cohabitating. </p>
<p>The researchers were able to exclude other factors that might have contributed to this outcome, such as a general economic downturn or working less outside the home after starting a relationship.</p>
<p>By referring to other relationships, they could also establish that these negative outcomes had not occurred when the same women had been in a non-abusive relationship. </p>
<p>In other words, the negative outcomes were a product of the abuse rather than any characteristics of the victim-survivors. These findings refute claims these women have only themselves to blame.</p>
<p>The researchers were also able to identify that a negative impact on economic wellbeing occurred relatively early in abusive relationships. Women’s unemployment tended to increase and their earnings tended to decrease within the first two years of a couple living together. </p>
<p>The study also found women “in the middle” – those with intermediate levels of education and earnings before entering into a relationship that became abusive – experienced the worst economic outcomes.</p>
<p>It’s not clear why. Perhaps this was the least predictable group in relation to whether they would leave the relationship and this may have triggered the most control from their abusive partners. </p>
<p>The study also found that economic abuse usually preceded physical violence, but could also occur in relationships where there was no reported violence. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524241/original/file-20230503-18-mgoe01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524241/original/file-20230503-18-mgoe01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524241/original/file-20230503-18-mgoe01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524241/original/file-20230503-18-mgoe01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524241/original/file-20230503-18-mgoe01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524241/original/file-20230503-18-mgoe01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524241/original/file-20230503-18-mgoe01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524241/original/file-20230503-18-mgoe01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abuse sabotages a woman’s independence by limiting her access to money and work outside the home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>How to end this abuse?</h2>
<p>Economic abuse in intimate relationships builds on <a href="https://goodshep.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/economic-abuse_final-report.pdf">existing gendered inequities</a>, especially social norms about management of finances.</p>
<p>Changing the attitudes and behaviours of perpetrators and potential perpetrators is crucial. Many consent and behaviour change programs include economic abuse as a recognised form of coercion and control. </p>
<p>It’s also important we find ways to improve financial literacy and provide more support for women seeking to leave abusive relationships.</p>
<p>Australian banks have already developed useful <a href="https://www.commbank.com.au/content/dam/commbank-assets/support/2021-01/unsw-report-key-findings.pdf">guidelines</a> and are working with experts in domestic and family violence to promote understanding of this abuse.</p>
<p>It’s vital that we find ways to support women to deal with the predictable <a href="https://www.womenandmoney.org.au/assets/Uploads/Women-+-Money-Financial-Impacts-of-Family-Violence.pdf">consequences</a> of economic abuse. These include homelessness, home insecurity, unemployment, poverty, and debts accrued by a partner or former partner.</p>
<p>Without intervention, a bad credit rating or poor rental history caused by a perpetrator’s abusive conduct can blight women’s lives for years after they leave these relationships. </p>
<p>Taking out a civil protection order may prohibit further economic abuse. <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/pdf/asmade/act-2022-65">New South Wales</a> and <a href="https://www.legislation.tas.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2004-067">Tasmania</a> already have criminal laws targeting coercive control and economic abuse. Queensland is planning to introduce a coercive control offence.</p>
<p>Enacting similar laws in other states and territories would extend these protections to even more Australian women.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coercive-control-is-a-key-part-of-domestic-violence-so-why-isnt-it-a-crime-across-australia-132444">Coercive control is a key part of domestic violence. So why isn't it a crime across Australia?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204688/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marilyn McMahon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Women in abusive relationships are much more likely to be unemployed and to earn less money than women with non-abusive partners.Marilyn McMahon, Deputy Dean, School of Law, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1900472022-09-13T20:04:11Z2022-09-13T20:04:11ZWomen who suffer domestic violence fare much worse financially after separating from their partner: new data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483151/original/file-20220907-22-f86cf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5643%2C3759&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We recently published <a href="https://paulramsayfoundation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TheChoice-violence-or-poverty-web.pdf">two</a> <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2022/5/HILDAResultsMay122022.pdf">reports</a> that highlight the devastating financial consequences borne by women who leave their partners after suffering domestic violence.</p>
<p>We found women who experienced domestic violence fared much worse financially after separating from their partner compared to those who didn’t face such violence, for women both with and without children.</p>
<p>Before separation, mothers who experienced domestic violence had about the same household income as mothers who didn’t. But after separation, the mothers who experienced domestic violence on average suffered a significantly higher drop in income of 34%, compared with a 20% decrease for mothers who didn’t experience domestic violence.</p>
<p>It’s the first time in Australia (to the best of our knowledge) that we have specific data on what happens financially to these women.</p>
<p>Our results highlight the terrible option facing those who are experiencing domestic violence: to stay in a violent relationship, or leave and face a major decline in financial wellbeing.</p>
<h2>What we studied</h2>
<p>The first report, <a href="https://www.violenceorpoverty.com/">The Choice: Violence or Poverty</a> by Anne Summers, presents previously unreported data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2016 Personal Safety Survey.</p>
<p>The data reveal that of all women who’d ever been in a partnership, 22% have experienced violence from a current or previous partner. And, of single mothers living with children under 18 years of age, a staggering 60% had experienced physical violence, and 70% emotional abuse, from a partner they had previously cohabited with.</p>
<p>The data also show 50% of these now single mothers live in poverty, relying on government benefits such as JobSeeker as their main source of income.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1555433771951738880"}"></div></p>
<p>It’s important to note the ABS figures come from what’s known as a “cross-section”, which means they reflect circumstances at a given point in time (2016). They can’t tell us what happens to women over time, or the immediate effects of domestic violence on their separation and/or income. This is a critical issue for domestic violence policy.</p>
<p>Understanding the dynamics of the financial situation of victim-survivors requires what’s known as “panel data”. This issue is addressed in the <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2022/5/HILDAResultsMay122022.pdf">second report</a> by Bruce Chapman and Matthew Taylor, where we analyse the Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia (HILDA) survey. HILDA is Australia’s best longitudinal data set, meaning it surveys the same people over time. To date, HILDA has followed around 19,000 people from 2002 to 2021. </p>
<p>We analysed HILDA data looking at the financial consequences for women likely to have experienced domestic violence. We covered both mothers and women who don’t have children.</p>
<p>HILDA doesn’t ask questions about the origins of violence experienced directly. So we had to devise a method of identifying separation due to domestic violence by linking the date of separation to reporting of an incident of violence: the presumption being that the incident was domestic violence (rather than, say, a street crime).</p>
<p>The report uses averages before and after separation of the three income categories, all measured in annual terms:</p>
<ul>
<li>the partner’s contribution to household income</li>
<li>the woman’s wages and salaries</li>
<li>and total government financial support received by women.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>In dollar terms, the drop in household income (which measures the total of all income) for mothers who experienced domestic violence after separation was from $54,648 to $35,921 a year.</p>
<p>There was also a fall in the household income for separating mothers not subject to domestic violence. But this fall is about $7,500 less compared to mothers who experienced domestic violence. </p>
<p>We also looked at the changes to a particular component of household income, the wages and salaries of the mothers (again, following separation). Similarly, we found those who’d gone through domestic violence fared far worse than those who didn’t.</p>
<p>It was expected the wages and salaries of women would increase on average after separation because of their need to compensate for the loss of the former partner’s income. But the extent to which this happened is quite different depending on whether or not the women experienced domestic violence.</p>
<p>Specifically, the wage and salary increase for mothers who’d experienced domestic violence was just 19% (from $11,526 to $13,747). But the wage and salary increase for mothers who hadn’t experienced domestic violence was much greater at 45% (from $14,414 to $20,838). </p>
<p>This means that these now single mothers who experienced domestic violence are considerably worse off financially than single mothers who didn’t face such violence.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1552919705593483265"}"></div></p>
<p>When the pre- and post-separation incomes of women without children are examined, the findings are similar to those for mothers, but with even greater losses for childless women who’d experienced domestic violence compared to childless women who hadn’t. Childless women who experienced domestic violence suffered an extraordinary 45% drop in household incomes, compared with 18% for childless women who didn’t experience domestic violence.</p>
<p>The relatively large loss in household income for childless women is the result of significant differences in the post-separation income levels between childless women, depending on their experience of domestic violence.</p>
<p>Childless women who hadn’t experienced domestic violence had an average increase of 68% in their wage and salary incomes (to about $38,000) after separation. But childless women who’d experienced domestic violence had an actual decrease in wage and salary incomes of around 20% on average (to about $13,000).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-victims-of-domestic-abuse-dont-leave-four-experts-explain-176212">Why victims of domestic abuse don't leave – four experts explain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A different way of illustrating the issue is the recognition that experiencing domestic violence doubles the likelihood of victim-survivors ending up in the bottom quarter of the income distribution.</p>
<p>We found around 50% of the women included in the data who have faced domestic violence and separated from their partners end up in the bottom quarter of the income distribution.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://paulramsayfoundation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TheChoice-violence-or-poverty-web.pdf">ABS data</a> reports a similar outcome, with 48.1% of now single mothers with children being in the lowest fifth of the income distribution.</p>
<h2>More research and better data needed</h2>
<p>These two reports have dug deeply into available data and unearthed findings of tremendous significance, results that reinforce each other. </p>
<p>While these findings have been rigorously tested and found to be statistically significant, the sample sizes for the longitudinal data are small.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1028763153579089920"}"></div></p>
<p>This is currently the best available longitudinal data capturing incomes. But as both reports have highlighted, data collection in the field of domestic violence needs to be expanded considerably if we’re to have more comprehensive information on longer-term outcomes.</p>
<p>We urgently need a national longitudinal study of social behaviour and experience that probes the consequences of domestic violence (with respect to perpetrators as well as victims) and the financial, employment and health outcomes for all concerned, including the children caught up in these violent relationships.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190047/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Summers receives funding from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Chapman and Matthew Taylor do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After separation, mothers who experienced domestic violence on average suffered a drop in income of 34%, compared with a 20% decrease for mothers who didn’t experience domestic violence.Bruce Chapman, Director, Policy Impact, College of Business and Economics, Australian National UniversityAnne Summers, Professor, UTS Business School, University of Technology SydneyMatthew Taylor, Senior Research Specialist and PhD Candidate, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1815692022-06-14T12:29:56Z2022-06-14T12:29:56ZElder abuse comes in many forms – appropriate Adult Protective Services referrals can help reduce mistreatment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467845/original/file-20220608-16-u7z954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2121%2C1412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elder abuse can take many forms, including financial, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, along with neglect.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/helping-the-needy-royalty-free-image/499062115">Barcin/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before the pandemic, around <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.163089">1 in 10</a> older adults in the U.S. experienced elder mistreatment. In 2020, this number doubled to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2021.01.007">1 in 5</a> – a nearly 84% increase.</p>
<p>Mistreatment comes in many forms, including various types of abuse, neglect, exploitation and fraud. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.659640">Adult Protective Services</a> agencies exist in every U.S. state and territory to investigate adult mistreatment reports and work with clients to address their needs. APS staff members gather information from clients, alleged abusers and third parties such as family members, friends or neighbors to determine whether there is enough evidence to support a mistreatment claim. They also use this information to match clients to social, health care, legal or other services as desired. </p>
<p>Since APS agencies do not receive dedicated federal funding, and regulations vary by state and local jurisdiction, standardized assessment of APS involvement in mistreatment cases has been challenging. As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lHP5_JAAAAAJ&hl=en">elder justice researcher</a>, I wanted to examine what differences APS agencies make in their clients’ lives and, more specifically, what services can help ameliorate mistreatment.</p>
<p>In our recently published study, my colleagues and I identified the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnac040">four most common types of elder mistreatment</a> and found that while APS can help ameliorate abusive situations for older adults, different types of elder mistreatment require different services to address them.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OQN7Lz-_1Ww?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Elder abuse can happen to anyone.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Matching service to mistreatment</h2>
<p>We collaborated with San Francisco and Napa APS agencies in California to identify which services decreased the severity of elder mistreatment. In California, county APS agencies focus on <a href="https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/adult-protective-services">nine types of mistreatment</a>: emotional abuse (called “mental suffering” by the California APS), physical abuse, financial abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, isolation, abandonment, abduction and self-neglect.</p>
<p>We trained San Francisco and Napa APS staff members to evaluate and measure how effective provided services are at reducing mistreatment. Staffers documented what types of services were given for each type of mistreatment and recorded how severe mistreatment was before and after services were provided.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467846/original/file-20220608-23-gzym6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Nurse talking to older adult in home" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467846/original/file-20220608-23-gzym6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467846/original/file-20220608-23-gzym6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467846/original/file-20220608-23-gzym6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467846/original/file-20220608-23-gzym6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467846/original/file-20220608-23-gzym6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467846/original/file-20220608-23-gzym6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467846/original/file-20220608-23-gzym6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adult Protective Services can provide or refer clients to specific services according to their needs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/senior-man-having-a-health-exam-royalty-free-image/1282163901">Marko Geber/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that APS interventions were able to decrease abuse severity for four of the most common types of elder mistreatment: 43% for emotional abuse, 62% for physical abuse, 31% for financial abuse and 72% for neglect.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, we found that services targeting the specific problem worked best. Victims and survivors of physical and emotional abuse benefited most from care and case management services. Emotional abuse victims benefited from additional legal services. Financial abuse victims had better outcomes with financial planning services. Finally, victims of neglect benefited most from care and case management as well as language translation and services provided to their alleged abusers, such as counseling and behavioral health treatments.</p>
<h2>Shedding light on APS service outcomes</h2>
<p>There are still many unknowns about Adult Protective Services report outcomes.</p>
<p>Notably, APS agencies cannot force their clients to accept services they do not want unless a health professional determines that they don’t have decision-making capacity. And once an APS case is closed, agencies will not know what happens to these older adults unless they or someone else sends another report. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I are currently conducting another study following up with APS clients after case closure. In addition to tracking mistreatment severity across time, we will also track other longer-term factors that affect one’s ability to live independently and safely, such as physical and mental health. Those who decline services will be a natural comparison group.</p>
<p>In addition to their elderly clients, many APS agencies also work with dependent adults, often younger people with physical, mental or intellectual disabilities. Not much is known about mistreatment in this vulnerable group. While our study did not have a large enough sample size to focus on this population, we would like to do so in the future as we collect more data.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467840/original/file-20220608-302-bau4g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of younger person holding hand of older person" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467840/original/file-20220608-302-bau4g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467840/original/file-20220608-302-bau4g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467840/original/file-20220608-302-bau4g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467840/original/file-20220608-302-bau4g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467840/original/file-20220608-302-bau4g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467840/original/file-20220608-302-bau4g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467840/original/file-20220608-302-bau4g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Everyone can play a part in ending elder abuse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/44514681@N06/33397293554">Avansa regio Gent vzw/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://namrs.acl.gov/Learning-Resources/Adult-Maltreatment-Reports/2020-Adult-Maltreatment-Report.aspx">self-neglect</a>, in which an older or dependent adult puts their own health or safety at risk, makes up the majority of mistreatment cases APS receives. My colleagues and I are also working to identify subtypes of self-neglect and which services would best address them. </p>
<p>Adult Protective Services agencies are the only governmental entities dedicated to addressing older and dependent adult mistreatment. However, even with APS staffers ready to connect older and dependent adults with service providers, clients need to be willing to accept help. APS is not a silver bullet that makes elder mistreatment magically disappear. </p>
<p>It takes a village – starting with recognizing when elder mistreatment is happening, and taking action to stop it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marian Liu receives funding from the Administration for Community Living, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. </span></em></p>World Elder Abuse Awareness Day highlights the increasing population of older adults around the world and the accompanying rise in elder mistreatment.Marian Liu, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Purdue UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1762122022-02-15T16:12:22Z2022-02-15T16:12:22ZWhy victims of domestic abuse don’t leave – four experts explain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446533/original/file-20220215-23-1avhi0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Leaving the family home when children are involved brings psychological and practical barriers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/frustrated-stressed-single-african-mom-having-1413108830">fizkes | Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For anyone aware of someone – a friend, a colleague, a family member – experiencing abuse and violence at home, one of the biggest questions is often why don’t they just walk away? It can be difficult to understand the extent of the coercive control and the practical hurdles in getting out, not to mention the complex feelings a survivor of abuse has to unpack. Four experts discuss why survivors might not ask for help, or feel unable to leave.</p>
<h2>Fear and control</h2>
<p><strong>Cassandra Wiener, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of London</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-claims-of-consensual-rough-sex-hide-abuse-and-coercive-control-from-courts-173683">Coercive control</a> is a calculated strategy of domination. A perpetrator begins by grooming their victim, thereby gaining trust and access. They then <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/hojo.12227">make their victim afraid</a> – usually, but not always, by instigating the fear of physical or sexual violence. Fear is what makes threats credible. And it is when a threat is credible that a demand becomes coercive. </p>
<p>Research has shown that an abuser will exert control by restricting access to family and friends, money and transport, thereby isolating the victim and making it harder for them to resist. The victim experiences constant, generalised anxiety – what psychologists term a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227252624_Coercion_in_Intimate_Partner_Violence_Toward_a_New_Conceptualization">state of siege</a> – that they have not moderated their behaviour sufficiently to avert catastrophe.</p>
<p>Contrary to what people often assume – that the victim chooses to stay; that they have options; that employing those options would keep them safe – <a href="https://academic.oup.com/policing/article-abstract/10/4/456/2742978?redirectedFrom=fulltext">research has shown</a> that leaving is in fact dangerous. The control continues once the relationship is over but changes in emphasis from attempting to keep the victim in the relationship to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/policing/article-abstract/10/4/456/2742978?redirectedFrom=fulltext">trying to destroy them</a> for leaving it. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman sits at a desk with papers and a calculator." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446541/original/file-20220215-21-qxykuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446541/original/file-20220215-21-qxykuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446541/original/file-20220215-21-qxykuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446541/original/file-20220215-21-qxykuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446541/original/file-20220215-21-qxykuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446541/original/file-20220215-21-qxykuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446541/original/file-20220215-21-qxykuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When abusers wrest control of a victim’s finances, they are often left without the skills needed to support themselves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/business-woman-using-calculator-do-math-1500592778">Natee Meepian | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Accommodation, childcare, support and finances</h2>
<p><strong>Michaela Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of Sheffield</strong> </p>
<p>For victims with children, practical and psychological <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260519900939">barriers</a> to ending an abusive relationship can overlap. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1524838018764160">Economic abuse</a> often means the victim is left with low confidence and <a href="https://theconversation.com/tackling-economic-abuse-of-women-must-be-part-of-our-domestic-violence-response-48376">without the knowledge</a> they need to manage their own finances and support themselves and their children. They feel guilty for removing children from their parent, their home, pets and school. They worry about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcp080">moving them away</a> from family and friends. </p>
<p>There may be delays in securing appropriate housing and a new school due to a shortage of social housing. There may also be a lack of affordable childcare or poor transport links. Conversely, some survivors may be tasked with daily trips back to their former neighbourhood to take children to school with the attendant risk each journey brings that they encounter their abuser. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29514473/">Research shows</a> that survivors of domestic abuse who have insecure immigration status may fear being deported. They may have little or no spoken English or access to interpreters. And they may hold concerns about managing day-to-day if they have no independent income or the right to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2724370">access</a> benefits or appropriate state funded accommodation. </p>
<p>For survivors who identify as LGBTQ+, meanwhile, there are myriad barriers. They might not recognise their experiences as abuse. They may fear being outed and they may worry about <a href="https://www.galop.org.uk/lgbt-peoplesexperiences-of-domestic-abuse/">social services intervening</a>, especially in terms of child protection measures. </p>
<p>LGBTQ+ people often also don’t know of, or think they’re ineligible for, mainstream domestic violence support services. Speialist services do exist but provision across the country is very modest, particularly in rural areas.</p>
<p>Victims with disabilities or health conditions face further <a href="https://safelives.org.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Disabled%20Survivors%20Too%20CORRECTED.pdf">practical hurdles</a>, particularly in terms of accommodation. For some, the abuser might also be the care giver. Those with multiple and complex needs (such as mental ill health, substance use, homelessness or offending) also often struggle to access <a href="https://avaproject.org.uk/breaking-down-the-barriers-findings-of-the-national-commission-on-domestic-and-sexual-violence-and-multiple-disadvantage/">specialist support services</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men are sitting in a living room, with one holding his head in his hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446542/original/file-20220215-15-1joahqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446542/original/file-20220215-15-1joahqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446542/original/file-20220215-15-1joahqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446542/original/file-20220215-15-1joahqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446542/original/file-20220215-15-1joahqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446542/original/file-20220215-15-1joahqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446542/original/file-20220215-15-1joahqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Specialist LGBTQ+ support services can be difficult to access.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sad-angry-couple-conflict-gay-people-2021186258">Andrey_Popov | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stigma and shame</h2>
<p><strong>Alison Gregory, Research Fellow (Traumatised and Vulnerable Populations), University of Bristol</strong></p>
<p>Domestic abuse occurs in <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/77432/WHO_RHR_12.36_eng.pdf;jsessionid=A60E2506847B026F327CB4893DD4587E?sequence=1">every society and culture</a>. And yet, despite changes over the past 50 years, we are still <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Allison-Crowe/publication/282546055_How_Can_We_End_the_Stigma_Surrounding_Domestic_and_Sexual_Violence_A_Modified_Delphi_Study_with_National_Advocacy_Leaders/links/5616d89508ae1a8880033c8a/How-Can-We-End-the-Stigma-Surrounding-Domestic-and-Sexual-Violence-A-Modified-Delphi-Study-with-National-Advocacy-Leaders.pdf">woefully underprepared</a> to be confronted by the idea that domestic abuse happens to people just like us. </p>
<p>Many survivors feel <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25556776/">embarrassed or ashamed</a> that they have experienced domestic abuse. They may fear that, in deciding to end an abusive relationship, their experiences will become known to others and they will risk exposing themselves to outside opinion and judgement – that they will be treated <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/jocn.13501">differently</a> as a result. </p>
<p>Research shows <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/jocn.13501">survivors</a> are concerned, in particular, about letting their parents down. Equally, ending an abusive relationship means that a survivor is confronted with their own experiences, and they may fear having to make sense of those experiences.</p>
<h2>Love</h2>
<p><strong>Alison Gregory and Sandra Walklate, Chair of Sociology, University of Liverpool</strong></p>
<p>Love can be an <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10926771.2021.2019154">incredibly powerful reason</a> why people remain in an abusive relationship, why they don’t feel they can leave, or why they leave and then return. And it is, perhaps, one of the hardest reasons to understand. Research shows that survivors themselves become frustrated that their love, concern and care for the abuser has kept them ensnared. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman cries on another woman's shoulder." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446543/original/file-20220215-25-lcqheo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446543/original/file-20220215-25-lcqheo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446543/original/file-20220215-25-lcqheo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446543/original/file-20220215-25-lcqheo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446543/original/file-20220215-25-lcqheo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446543/original/file-20220215-25-lcqheo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446543/original/file-20220215-25-lcqheo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Victims may fear being treated differently when they speak out about the abuse they have suffered.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-young-woman-consoling-crying-female-567413689">wavebreakmedia | Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260518816325">A 2021 analysis</a> of responses to the #WhyIStayed Twitter campaign reveals how <a href="http://www.arizonalawreview.org/pdf/56-4/56arizlrev977.pdf">complex</a> these feelings can be. It also speaks to the powerful influence that social commentaries around relationships, marriage and the family have. Some women tweeted, “Marriage is forever”, “I didn’t wanna run when we hit a rough patch” and “Children need a father”.</p>
<p>Further, the study shows the power that social expectations on romance and love exert. As one person tweeted, “The first time he hits you, you tell yourself it was an isolated incident. He’s remorseful. You forgive. Life is normal again.” Research <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137008817">has shown</a> that that forgiveness stems from a victim’s desire to maintain the relationship, as being a primary life goal, even at the expense of their own safety. </p>
<p>Abusers, conversely, can be wily and skilful when it comes to manipulating a survivor’s feelings of love. They will premise coercive edicts with, “If you loved me, you would …”. They will also use survivors’ feelings of care and concern to try to prevent them from leaving, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10896-014-9597-2">commonly</a> making threats to harm or kill themselves if they do. Abusers know that the thought of potential harm to the abuser will cause the survivor distress and possibly feelings of guilt (even though the survivor has done nothing wrong).</p>
<p>Survivors may be asked by incredulous friends, relatives and professionals, “How can you still love them after what they’ve done?” This sees many survivors stay silent about their residual feelings, which, in itself, is dangerous. Love is a strong motivator, and if we don’t give permission for it to be voiced, we risk alienating survivors and further isolating them – which is <a href="https://www.theduluthmodel.org/wheels/">just what abusers want</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cassandra Wiener previously received funding from the ESRC to conduct research into the implementation of section 76 Serious Crime Act in England and Wales. Cassandra is co-founder and trustee of the Treebeard Trust, an organisation that seeks to address inequality and climate change.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Gregory currently receives fellowship funding from the AXA Research Fund to develop an intervention for informal supporters (friends, family members, neighbours, and colleagues) of domestic abuse survivors.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michaela Rogers is affiliated with Vida Sheffield.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra Walklate received funding from the ESRC 2020-21 grant number ES/V00476X/1 to examine policing and court responses to domestic abuse under Covid-19</span></em></p>Coercive control seeks to disempower victims of domestic abuse on every level. Leaving the family home – and disentangling feelings of care – is a complex process.Cassandra Wiener, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of LondonAlison Gregory, Research Fellow, University of BristolMichaela Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of SheffieldSandra Walklate, Eleanor Rathbone Chair of Sociology, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1430042020-08-02T19:54:20Z2020-08-02T19:54:20ZIf you’re thinking of leaving a violent partner, you need a financial plan. This toolkit can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350058/original/file-20200729-27-g3dt9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C7163%2C4811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has driven a surge of calls to domestic violence support services, as survivors of violence spend more time at home with their abusers due to lockdowns and other restrictions.</p>
<p>Many feel they can’t leave — or that they must <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=atw3x4ZhAPQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA85&dq=domestic+violence+financial&ots=rIiDV-W95M&sig=k99meoTVwA93kAiFY9BmkOJL5nc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=domestic%20violence%20financial&f=false">return to abusers</a> — because they lack financial security or are unsure about where to turn for financial assistance.</p>
<p>Domestic violence may include physical violence, but it can also mean verbal, emotional or financial abuse — or a combination of these. Financial abuse can include a partner preventing or trying to prevent you from knowing about family finances, accessing money, making decisions about what to buy, controlling your income or using the phone, internet or car.</p>
<p>Our free online resource, titled <a href="https://www.yourtoolkit.com.au/">Your Toolkit</a>, outlines a “roadmap for recovery” to support women’s physical safety and long-term financial security. We have had a surge of traffic to the site since the pandemic began (and have updated it with COVID-19 specific advice).</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-governments-can-do-about-the-increase-in-family-violence-due-to-coronavirus-135674">What governments can do about the increase in family violence due to coronavirus</a>
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<p>The guide breaks the process into four steps to support women hoping to leave: the preparation phase, the launch phase, the “nourish” phase aimed at preserving safety, and the “flourish” stage aimed at supporting long-term financial stability.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350307/original/file-20200730-19-jc3vw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Description of financial abuse" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350307/original/file-20200730-19-jc3vw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350307/original/file-20200730-19-jc3vw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350307/original/file-20200730-19-jc3vw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350307/original/file-20200730-19-jc3vw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350307/original/file-20200730-19-jc3vw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350307/original/file-20200730-19-jc3vw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350307/original/file-20200730-19-jc3vw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">What is financial abuse?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.yourtoolkit.com.au/">Your Toolkit</a></span>
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<h2>Preparing to leave</h2>
<p><a href="https://yourtoolkit.com.au/prepare/">Planning</a> is the most important phase in preparing to leave. </p>
<p>When preparing to leave it is important to keep yourself safe when using technology. Be sure to manage the settings on all your devices. If, at any time, you think your partner is tracking your location through your device, our advice is to ditch it. </p>
<p>Collect and keep safe your important documents, including your passport and driver’s licence. If you can, collect evidence of your abuse (such as photos). If you can access cash and credit cards, they can also be really useful. </p>
<p>If you choose to leave, you’ll need to consider the safety of yourself, children and pets. Start thinking through legal advice, escape routes and emergency contacts, checklists and logistics. </p>
<p>We know this can be overwhelming, so we have included some links to resources in the <a href="https://www.yourtoolkit.com.au/">toolkit</a> to help. Prepare when and where you can get support. </p>
<h2>Launching your plan</h2>
<p>When you <a href="https://yourtoolkit.com.au/launch/">launch</a> your plan, remember to call 000 if you are in crisis. You’ve made the decision to leave. We know you haven’t come easily to this place and you may be frightened. Make sure you are aware of short- and medium-term support available to help keep you and your children safe when you decide to leave. </p>
<p>The launch section of our guide outlines how to get help in an emergency, leave home safely, get a Violence Restraining Order and where to get food and a bed for the night in a crisis.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350373/original/file-20200730-13-8u360y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman writes in a notebook" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350373/original/file-20200730-13-8u360y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350373/original/file-20200730-13-8u360y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350373/original/file-20200730-13-8u360y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350373/original/file-20200730-13-8u360y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350373/original/file-20200730-13-8u360y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350373/original/file-20200730-13-8u360y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350373/original/file-20200730-13-8u360y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Before you leave, think through legal advice, escape routes and emergency contacts, checklists and logistics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Navigating paperwork as you work towards financial security</h2>
<p>For the <a href="https://yourtoolkit.com.au/nourish/">next</a> part of your journey, which we call the “nourish” phase, you’ll need to know where and how to access support payments and services, longer-term accommodation options, how to look after your ongoing personal safety, and where to get legal advice on your rights. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.yourtoolkit.com.au/">site</a> provides information to help navigate the paperwork and sustain you on the journey to financial security and independence.</p>
<h2>Flourishing with a longer-term financial plan</h2>
<p>To thrive in the long run, you need financial stability. A crucial component is having a budget, and the “flourish” section of the <a href="https://yourtoolkit.com.au/flourish/">guide</a> details how to build one.</p>
<p>A budget sets out your income and expenses and, importantly, allows you to plan for the future. It identifies ahead of time when you may have a shortfall in funds. </p>
<p>Use the <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/budgeting/budget-planner">MoneySmart budget planner</a> so you can create a budget, see where your money is going, and work out whether your income will cover your expenses. Once established, you can look at savings and borrowing plans and get advice about superannuation, tax and how the bank can help you. </p>
<p>Sometimes, women who have left a violent relationship face legal and tax problems. There are many free and expert advisors you can see for advice. For tax advice you can access free tax clinics in your state. For details, check out the Australian Taxation Office’s <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Gen/National-Tax-Clinic-program">Tax Clinic Program</a>.</p>
<p>Unless you’ve experienced it yourself, it’s hard to appreciate just how difficult it is to leave a violent relationship. Building a financial plan is a crucial part of making your exit successful in the long term.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-in-a-bubble-that-is-set-to-burst-why-urgent-support-must-be-given-to-domestic-violence-workers-141600">'We are in a bubble that is set to burst'. Why urgent support must be given to domestic violence workers</a>
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<p><em>If you need help, you can reach Australia’s national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service on 1800 737 732 or via web chat, 24/7.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143004/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glennda Scully is a director of Financial Toolbox in a volunteer capacity. Your Toolkit has received government funding and funding from Lotterywest. Your Toolkit was produced by Financial Toolbox, a not-for-profit volunteer organisation focused on economic empowerment of women developed in partnership with Chartered Accountants ANZ, the Law Society, the Women’s Council for Family and Domestic Violence and the Financial Counsellors Society.
</span></em></p>Planning is the most important phase in preparing to leave a violent relationship — and that includes financial planning.Glennda Scully, Professor, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1115072019-02-13T02:23:32Z2019-02-13T02:23:32ZYes, we can put bank bosses in jail, but is that the best way to hold them to account?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258602/original/file-20190212-174894-1upmhar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kenneth Hayne has referred over 20 entities to regulators for investigation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Kenneth Hayne handed down the banking royal commission’s final report, he <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-05/kenneth-hayne-royal-commission-report-labor-versus-liberals/10779476">urged the corporate watchdog</a> to investigate several entities for criminal charges. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-08/amp-executives-will-face-criminal-charges/10793402">since announced</a> it is preparing cases against executives of some of the big players.</p>
<p>The day of the report, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg <a href="https://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/asic-funding-boost-to-put-supervisors-in-big-banks-amp-20180806-h13lja">reiterated a government commitment</a> made last year to boost the enforcement powers and resources of agencies such as ASIC and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to launch criminal prosecutions. The government would also extend the jurisdiction of the Federal Court <a href="https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/politics/24956-federal-court-s-jurisdiction-to-expand-on-corporate-criminality-post-rc">to include “criminal corporate crime”</a>.</p>
<p>Frydenberg said the government would provide a legislative framework necessary, and better resources, for regulators to hold those who abuse our trust to account. But this is unnecessary – the legislative framework is already there. And then there’s also the question of whether criminal convictions and terms of imprisonment are the best way to deal with the issue. </p>
<h2>Dishonest conduct</h2>
<p>A key finding of the report was that entities may have committed breaches of the <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/">Corporations Act</a> – the main legislation regulating Australian companies. The relevant section in the act is <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s1041g.html">“Dishonest conduct” (1041G)</a>, inserted in 2001. It says “a person must not, in the course of carrying on a financial services business in this jurisdiction, engage in dishonest conduct in relation to a financial product or financial service”. Those convicted face a maximum ten years imprisonment.</p>
<p>This is the main criminal offence at play here – dishonesty. It is dishonest for a finance company to charge for a service they know will not be provided. It is dishonest for a bank to continue to charge dead people for services rendered.</p>
<p>That said, convictions under 1041G have usually occurred where individuals have been found seeking to deliberately <a href="https://www.moneymanagement.com.au/news/financial-planning/adviser-convicted-dishonest-conduct">line their own pockets</a>. Commissioner Hayne has therefore upped the ante by prodding ASIC to consider whether at least two corporate entities, not just individuals, have breached 1041G.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/compensation-scheme-to-follow-haynes-indictment-of-financial-sector-110981">Compensation scheme to follow Hayne’s indictment of financial sector</a>
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<p>Hayne’s observation could not be in greater contrast to one made in the wake of a similar investigation two decades ago. In 1996 the Howard government initiated their <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/RP9697/97rp16">inquiry into the financial services sector</a>. The inquiry’s chairman Stan Wallis had claimed Australia’s tough corporate governance rules were a major reason for the perceived under-performance of companies at the time. </p>
<p>In a June, 2000 speech to the Centre for Corporate Public Affairs, Wallis <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/DeakinLRev/2002/1.html#fn28">advocated winding back</a> boardroom independence rules since “too much attention to corporate governance can cloud a board’s judgement”. Governance, he said, had become an end in itself, and, as a result, directors were predisposed to being risk-averse rather than bold. </p>
<p>But now the regulator’s guillotine is being sharpened, not blunted, and with good reason. The amount charged by financial institutions for services never received is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-08/amp-executives-will-face-criminal-charges/10793402">reportedly more than $1 billion</a>. Hayne has referred 24 entities to regulatory authorities. We can <a href="https://theconversation.com/compensation-scheme-to-follow-haynes-indictment-of-financial-sector-110981">virtually guarantee</a> prosecutions will be launched in relation to these alleged misdeeds.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1094921458898227200"}"></div></p>
<h2>So, how can a conviction occur?</h2>
<p>First, ASIC needs to look beyond what was reported to the royal commission to find clear evidence of wrongdoing. With sufficient evidence, the matter is referred to the DPP. The DPP in turn needs to be satisfied of the probability of a conviction, by virtue of offences under the Corporations Act.</p>
<p>Mr Frydenberg doesn’t need to extend jurisdictions, or boost enforcement powers. The law that the DPP needs is there already.</p>
<h2>But do the people want this?</h2>
<p>If one believes the political commentary that tells us there is a heightened contempt among the public today for white-collar offending, then perhaps bosses should be jailed. But there’s also some evidence suggesting that the public’s intolerance of, and reaction to, such behaviour is not as radical as many believe. </p>
<p><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-18732-001">Research conducted in England</a> led the author to conclude that punishment preferences of the public are </p>
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<p>rational and reasoned, and the emotive aspects of their attitudes were primarily regretful rather than vengeful […] there were signs that the desire to express condemnation and disapproval of offenders’ conduct was counterbalanced by recognition of the need for humane and just penal policies.</p>
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<p>In other words, there is an argument the public don’t consider senior managers who have already been humbled by the Commissioner, or humiliated by the commission’s lead barrister Rowena Orr QC, need to go behind bars.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/banking-royal-commission-the-real-problem-is-how-we-value-executives-and-workers-111094">Banking Royal Commission: the real problem is how we value executives and workers</a>
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<p>Criminologist John Braithwaite’s seminal work, <a href="http://johnbraithwaite.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Crime-Shame-and-Reintegration.pdf">Crime, Shame and Reintegration</a>, explored shame in a leader’s falling short of public expectations. His hypothesis was that fear of shame is a major social force for preventing criminality, not threat of imprisonment. </p>
<p>Punishing key financial services leaders by naming them, highlighting their failings, accepting their contrition, disqualifying them, and seeking restitution from them is as likely to satisfy the public’s demand for appropriate consequences as any prison term.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article previously referred to a provision in the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995, which related to corporate culture. The relevant part of the Act is no longer applied to financial institutions, however, so reference to it has been removed.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111507/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rick Sarre has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party State Council.</span></em></p>The government doesn’t need to extend jurisdictions, or boost enforcement powers to prosecute corporations that have behaved dishonestly. The law for prosecution is there already.Rick Sarre, Adjunct Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/969582018-08-13T11:48:00Z2018-08-13T11:48:00ZPeople with dementia and financial abuse – the warning signs and how to avoid it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222755/original/file-20180612-112627-qe6ex2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/home">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When most of us go online to our internet banking account and set up a direct debit to pay a bill, we probably do it swiftly without much thought. But in reality it’s not that easy. In fact, there are a lot of complex processes involved in how we manage our finances, which older people, especially those with dementia, often struggle to deal with. </p>
<p>Dementia affects an estimated <a href="https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-us/policy-and-influencing/dementia-uk-report">850,000 in the UK</a>, with numbers expected to rise to over a million in the next few years. Each year, dementia care is costing <a href="https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-us/policy-and-influencing/dementia-uk-report">£26.3 billion</a> in the UK alone. Most of this involves care in nursing homes and supporting people with dementia with their daily activities.</p>
<p>If we look at the whole raft of daily activities a person does, such as preparing a hot drink or a meal, or doing the laundry, financial management is one of the earliest tasks <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01499.x">to deteriorate in dementia</a>. These processes are complex, which is why people with dementia often struggle to count change, use a cash machine, pay bills or manage tax records sometimes even before their diagnosis.</p>
<p>Daily activities as a whole are often underpinned by a complex network of cognition. This can include different types of memory for past and future events, so the need to remember to do a task at 8pm tonight for example, involves problem solving skills, and attention. But there are other factors that can hinder someone when performing a task, such as motor problems or their environment.</p>
<h2>Warning signs</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-psychogeriatrics/article/predictors-of-finance-management-in-dementia-managing-bills-and-taxes-matters/911517F3528D28581662EAD0E3E060F6">recent analysis</a> of a large data set collected from 34 clinical centres across the US, my colleagues and I looked at what kinds of behaviour are a warning sign for problems with paying bills and managing taxes in people with dementia. </p>
<p>When we obtained the data set, we only looked at people with dementia living in the community, who also had a family caregiver, and a diagnosis of <a href="https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia">the three dementia subtypes</a>: Alzheimer’s disease, behavioural-variant fronto-temporal dementia, and Lewy body dementia. We then performed an analysis using statistical models to help identify the degree to which certain factors – such as language or motor skills – can predict a particular outcome. In this case, paying bills was the outcome for one model, and managing taxes was the outcome for the second model. </p>
<p>We found that between 11% and 14% of the ability to manage those financial tasks is predicted by executive functioning, or problem solving skills, language, and motor problems. So this means, if a person has problems solving difficult tasks, problems with language, they fall frequently and are moving slowly, and are also more likely to also struggle with financial tasks. Slowness and falls are particularly prominent in <a href="https://www.lewybody.org/about-dlb/symptoms/">people with Lewy body dementia</a>, which is different to Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia.</p>
<h2>Get prepared</h2>
<p>This knowledge can help people with dementia. Older people, including people with dementia, can often be <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-05-03/america-s-elderly-are-losing-37-billion-a-year-to-fraud">subject to financial exploitation</a>. This can be through online or telephone scamming, or knocking on someone’s door trying to sell something. And when people with dementia struggle using internet or telephone banking, they may be more prone to telling strangers their bank details.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222760/original/file-20180612-112614-1jesd24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222760/original/file-20180612-112614-1jesd24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222760/original/file-20180612-112614-1jesd24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222760/original/file-20180612-112614-1jesd24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222760/original/file-20180612-112614-1jesd24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222760/original/file-20180612-112614-1jesd24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222760/original/file-20180612-112614-1jesd24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A helping hand is needed for those living with dementia to manage their finances.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One way to support people in managing their finances may be to provide training to improve their cognition. It’s important to bear in mind that dementia is neurodegenerative. So while we can help people maintain certain <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09602011.2011.580614">skills for longer</a>, there will come a point where full support for finance tasks is needed. This could involve arranging a <a href="https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/legal-financial/types-lasting-powers-attorney#content-start">lasting power of attorney</a> and naming a person that is trusted to look after financial decisions. </p>
<p>Another way may be to adapt the homes of people with dementia to avoid falls and allow them to move around more freely. In our analysis, we found that falls were linked to poor finance management, meaning that noticing your loved one fall more frequently than usual could be a warning sign that they may also struggle managing their finances. If we can drag out the need for full support for as long as possible, we can help someone stay in their own home for longer. And that is exactly where people feel the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/26/dementia-patients-care-homes-quality">happiest</a>. </p>
<p>Other, larger financial questions loom for people with dementia, such as inheritance and dealing with payments for formal care – both at home and in future in a nursing home. These are big financial concerns, which should be discussed once a diagnosis is made, but ideally done before. That way the person is better able to judge what they think should be done with their money, and is less likely to be financially exploited than in the later stages of the condition. The Alzheimer’s Society has also produced some good further guidelines on how to deal with <a href="https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/sites/default/files/migrate/downloads/short_changed_-_protecting_people_with_dementia_from_financial_abuse.pdf">financial abuse in dementia</a>.</p>
<p>While it may be the last thing someone wants to think about who has just received a diagnosis, the best way to avoid financial abuse is to put things in place right away. If that isn’t motivation enough, staying independent in all sorts of activities <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/gps.4728">improves well-being</a>. And that is our ultimate goal, whether we have dementia or not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clarissa Giebel conducts independent research funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) North West Coast. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health and Social Care.</span></em></p>For people with dementia, problems performing certain tasks can be a warning sign of difficulty managing financial tasks, according to new research.Clarissa Giebel, Research Manager, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/922952018-02-25T20:18:47Z2018-02-25T20:18:47ZLIBOR: elections, manipulations – and a possible fix<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207522/original/file-20180222-152363-13zyo3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">London's financial district at night.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/NaWJWzmprZQ">Gordon Williams/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While some first political and economic consequences of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/eu-referendum-2016">Brexit vote</a> are already visible, London’s role in the world financial markets has been so far relatively unaffected. The high density of financial institutions combined with a longstanding tradition of the banking industry makes the role of the City in the financial arena rather stable.</p>
<p>Among the several indexes located in this financial powerhouse is the <a href="https://www.theice.com/iba/libor">ICE London Interbank Offered Rates</a> – commonly known by its acronym, LIBOR. Since the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/18/libor-scandal-the-bankers-who-fixed-the-worlds-most-important-number">2008 rigging scandal</a> there has been some discussion of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/27/libor-interest-rate-phased-out-scandals">phasing it out</a>, but it remains a key index in the world’s financial markets.</p>
<p>Each LIBOR rate determines the interest rate at which banks lend each other money for some length of time (ranging from 1 day to 12 months) on different currencies (dollars, euros, etc.). These benchmark rates are widely used as a base interest rates by financial institutions all over the world since many contracts are paid at least the interest corresponding to some LIBOR rate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207510/original/file-20180222-152348-1jut9n7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207510/original/file-20180222-152348-1jut9n7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207510/original/file-20180222-152348-1jut9n7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207510/original/file-20180222-152348-1jut9n7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207510/original/file-20180222-152348-1jut9n7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207510/original/file-20180222-152348-1jut9n7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207510/original/file-20180222-152348-1jut9n7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1: Two LIBOR rates since 2008: EUR at 12 months and USD 3 months.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">St. Louis Fed.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Therefore, the LIBOR rates impact directly and indirectly small businesses as well as corporations, the world’s largest banks and almost any financial product such as loans, mortgages and derivatives. Arguably, the LIBOR rates are among the world’s most important numbers. It is often thought as a good barometer of the global economic and financial situation. </p>
<p>Figure 1 depicts the evolution of two of these rates since 2008: the one corresponding to loans in euros for 12 months and the one corresponding to loans in US dollars for three months. One can distinguish clearly three different regions. In first one, spanning from the beginning of 2008 until mid 2010, where both indexes are in decline, corresponds to the aftermath of the subprime financial crisis. The second period, that ends at the beginning of the year 2015, corresponds to some stable period in which both rates do not move much the EUR12 being higher than the USD3 one. The final region, that lasts until today, corresponds to an unusual period in which the EUR12 is negative while the USD3 is positive and increasing. What can one infer from these indexes ? How is each index determined?</p>
<h2>Elections and manipulations</h2>
<p>A distinct feature of these rates is that its value is not determined through a market but through an election. More precisely, a daily election is held in which a selected sample of 18 banks takes part. Each bank reports a value (interest rate) which represents the rate at which it is ready to lend money in this currency for certain amount of time. The extreme reports (the top and the bottom four) are removed and the LIBOR corresponds to the average of the remaining values. Figure 2 explains this computation with five banks and the deletion of the top and the bottom value.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207511/original/file-20180222-152360-vq4lw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207511/original/file-20180222-152360-vq4lw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=154&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207511/original/file-20180222-152360-vq4lw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207511/original/file-20180222-152360-vq4lw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=154&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207511/original/file-20180222-152360-vq4lw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207511/original/file-20180222-152360-vq4lw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207511/original/file-20180222-152360-vq4lw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 2: Example of LIBOR computation with five banks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The logic of the LIBOR computation is made transparent in Figure 2: the first step, dropping the extreme reports, invalidates the extreme reports whereas the second one simply averages the moderate ones, leading to a LIBOR of 0.527%. The role of the second step is to represent in a consensual manner the moderate values. In a sense, one could argue that this method tries to give incentives for consensus since none of the banks has an interest in announcing a value too different from the rest of the announcements. Yet, since the financial crisis in 2008, manipulation in the LIBOR (often referred to as the LIBOR scandal) casts some doubts over the way this index is determined.</p>
<p>In the 2008 LIBOR scandal, some banks altered their reports so as to obtain a value that fitted better their own interests. For instance, a report by the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority (FSA) <a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/barclays-fined-%C2%A3595-million-significant-failings-relation-libor-and-euribor">stated that</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Barclays’ misconduct was serious, widespread and extended over a number of years. The integrity of benchmark reference rates such as LIBOR and EURIBOR is of fundamental importance to both UK and international financial markets. Firms making submissions must not use those submissions as tools to promote their own interests”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If every bank announces honestly its preferred interest rate, this method is arguably close to perfect. However, a reasonable question is whether banks have the incentives to do so under this method. If not, this casts some shadow over this manner of computing LIBOR.</p>
<p>To understand the logic of a manipulation in a simple manner, consider that in Figure 2 every bank is honestly announcing its preferred interest rate. For instance, this implies that Société Generale’s preferred rate is 0.52%. What is the consequence of a misreport with this system? As long as the report is not too extreme, that is located in between the ones of Rabobank and Crédit Suisse, a misreport (or strategic report) affects the outcome. If for instance, S.G. announces 0.499, then the final outcome is 0.52: namely, by misreporting, S.G. obtains its preferred rate (see Figure 3 for an explanation). This leads to the following conclusion: the classical method for computing LIBOR gives banks incentives not to report their preferred interest rate but rather to strategise as a function of the expected reports of the rest of the banks.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207512/original/file-20180222-152357-mftw5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207512/original/file-20180222-152357-mftw5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207512/original/file-20180222-152357-mftw5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207512/original/file-20180222-152357-mftw5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207512/original/file-20180222-152357-mftw5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207512/original/file-20180222-152357-mftw5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207512/original/file-20180222-152357-mftw5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 3: A misreport might be beneficial for a bank.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A proposal</h2>
<p>Can we find reasonable ways of building the LIBOR rate without this undesirable feature? One can always design sophisticated methods to check whether the reported values are indeed sincere, yet this comes at the cost of thin auditing methods which can be rather inefficient. Yet, this method will still lie in the setting in which banks are always tempted to manipulate the true valuation, which might in turn create new problems with fake reports. Our view is that the purpose of the LIBOR method is to design a method which is simple and practical while at the same time it represents well the different preferences of the banks. Namely, if one wants to improve the computation of the LIBOR, one needs to design an instrument that moderates the final decision while it leads to a consensual final rate.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022053117300558">has led us to design methods</a> that escape from the dilemma of reporting the true value versus manipulating via reporting a strategic value. One of these methods works as follows: each bank reports a range of values and not anymore, as in the original LIBOR, a single value. Namely, rather than reporting 0.52 and 0.499 as in Figures 2 and Figure 3, the Société Générale is now allowed to announce any range of interest rates: for example, in Figure 4, S.G. announces any value from 0.231 until 0.841. This means that S.G. approves of any value in this interval.</p>
<p>The interval method computes the LIBOR in a different manner. Rather than dropping values, it considers the different intervals announced by the different banks as a sample of points (see Figure 4b). Given this sample of points, it plots the distribution of the approvals made by the different banks (Figure 4c). Finally, it selects the value that divides in two exact halves the sample of points generated by the banks’ announcements.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207830/original/file-20180226-140197-1hy5rtb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207830/original/file-20180226-140197-1hy5rtb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207830/original/file-20180226-140197-1hy5rtb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207830/original/file-20180226-140197-1hy5rtb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207830/original/file-20180226-140197-1hy5rtb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207830/original/file-20180226-140197-1hy5rtb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207830/original/file-20180226-140197-1hy5rtb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 4: Computing the LIBOR with intervals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How should we expect banks to behave under this method? Theoretically, this method should lead to selecting (a very accurate estimation of) the median preferred interest rate of the banks. The idea behind the median interest rate is quite familiar in economics and political science: the Condorcet winner. Consider the ideal point of each bank and order them from the lowest to the highest one. The median interest rate is the one that divides the sample of ideal points in two exact halves since half of these values are lower than the median interest rate and half are higher. An important property of the median interest rate is its democratic appeal: it turns out that if one starts comparing by pairs each of the ideal points of the different banks, the only interest rate that defeats by a majority any other ideal point is the median interest rate. It is hence a basic desideratum for respecting the will of the banks to ensure that the outcome is as close as possible to the median of the ideal points.</p>
<p>This convergence to the median should occur since a bank’s ideal strategy is to announce either all the interest rates to the left of the outcome or all the alternatives to the right of it. The bank should theoretically announce all alternatives located to the left of the outcome if its interest rate is lower than the outcome whereas it announces all alternatives to the right of the outcome if its ideal interest rate is higher. In practice, few are known. </p>
<p>Some experiments have been run in the Cyprus Experimental Economics Lab at the University of Cyprus, and while it is still early, the first available results are encouraging. In a lab setting, we endow players with a minute to decide over the interval they want to announce. During this period of time, they are allowed to play with the intervals while seeing in real-time the announcements of the rest of the players. Most experimental subjects tend to understand well the mechanism and the outcome is quite close to the median of the players’ ideal points. More importantly, players seem to be much more satisfied with the final outcome than with the usual methods so that the method increases the consensual views of the different players.</p>
<h2>Final remarks</h2>
<p>The LIBOR rates are core tools in the global financial system. It is then essential to ensure that these rates are well-calibrated so that they reflect well the will of the different banks involved in its construction. While the LIBOR scandal underlined some weaknesses in the initial method of computation, a myriad of possible fixes might be available. Our proposal is to offer each of the banks more flexibility, allow each to announce ranges of interest rates. While more evidence is needed on the benefits of this system, the current <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022053117300558">theoretical and experimental results</a> make this approach a potentially interesting one. A key advantage is that banks would no longer face the usual dilemma between being sincere or opting for their self-interest, removing any potential auditing costs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The London Interbank Offered Rates is one of the world’s key financial tools, but the 2008 rigging scandal has led to calls for its being phased out. Can we find better ways of building the LIBOR rate?Matias Nunez, CNRS Researcher in Economics, Université Paris Dauphine – PSLDimitrios Xefteris, Assistant Professor of Political Economy, University of CyprusLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/791872017-06-15T00:33:26Z2017-06-15T00:33:26ZThe problems with asking banks to police financial abuse<p>The Australian Law Reform Commission wants to give banks the responsibility to protect vulnerable customers from financial abuse. But there are a number of issues with this approach. Its success depends on the good faith of the banks, and could leave some customers uncovered and the banks with no one to report abuse to. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/elder-abuse-report">new report</a> on elder abuse, the commission recommends that the <a href="http://www.bankers.asn.au/industry-standards/ABAs-code-of-banking-practice">Code of Banking Practice</a> be amended so that banks take “reasonable steps” to prevent financial abuse. </p>
<p>But the code is voluntary and some banks have been lax in the past, meaning some customers won’t be covered. “Reasonable steps” still needs to be defined, to ensure all banks meet a standard. And we need transparency to know what financial abuse banks are dealing with, how and when. </p>
<p><a href="https://aifs.gov.au/publications/elder-abuse/export">Around 9%</a> of older people living in the community are financially abused. It is likely the number is even higher among those with cognitive impairment or who live in institutions. Financial exploitation of older people is <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/publications/elder-abuse/export">increasing</a> and <a href="http://www.advocare.org.au/uploaded/files/client_added/Examination%20of%20the%20Extent%20of%20Elder%20Abuse%20in%20Western%20Australia.pdf">mostly perpetrated</a> by those close to the victim, including family members.</p>
<p>The amendments to the code will include measures such as enhanced staff training to recognise elder financial abuse, an obligation to report suspected abuse, and recommendations to tackle the problem of forced guarantees for mortgages and other loans to relatives.</p>
<h2>Can the banks protect vulnerable people?</h2>
<p>Elder financial abuse is difficult to detect. However, banks and financial institutions are in a unique position to see it. Banks have face-to-face contact with customers, play a role in providing third-party authorisations, monitor electronic transactions and oversee lending. </p>
<p>But the Code of Banking Practice is voluntary, and <a href="http://www.ccmc.org.au/code-of-banking-practice-2/code-subscribers/">many in the industry are not signed on</a>. This could lead to troubling gaps in coverage. Institutions that do not sign up to the code will be under no obligation at all.</p>
<p>Although some have imposed protocols to address elder financial abuse, a <a href="http://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/2015/11/04/financial-institutions-need-to-take-a-greater-role-in-combating-elder-abuse-lawyer/">recent interview with Kirsty Mackie</a>, chairwoman of the Elder Abuse Committee of the Queensland Law Society, noted that training of front-line banking staff, collaboration between institutions, understanding of the bank’s legal position, and preparedness to act in the customer’s best interest were all lacking.</p>
<p>The commission also settled on a standard that requires banks to take “reasonable steps” to prevent financial abuse, despite <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/subs/352._legal_aid_nsw.pdf">Legal Aid NSW recommending</a> that a higher standard be adopted. The proposed alternative was to require banks to “take all steps” to prevent financial abuse. </p>
<p>A standard based on what is “reasonable” is problematic as context matters; what one bank may regard as a reasonable response to suspicions of elder abuse may differ from what a court or the general public thinks.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://seniorsrights.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A4-financial-abuse-of-older-persons-small-for-websites.pdf">United States</a>, some states impose mandatory reporting of elder financial abuse, but Australia looks <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/house_of_representatives_committees?url=/laca/olderpeople/chapter2.htm#fraud">set to make reporting voluntary</a>. This leads on to the issue of transparency.</p>
<p>We need to know under what circumstances banks will keep matters “in house”, to decide if these are appropriate. Criteria for reporting suspected financial abuse need to be established, as well as a body to report to. The commission has recommended the implementation of an adult guardian to which complaints could be referred. All these issues remain unclear and will require more discussion. </p>
<p>A related concern is the potential ramifications for people who make reports. In Australia, whistle-blower protection remains inadequate. Indeed, the Australian Banking Association <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/subs/107._australian_bankers_association_aba.pdf">submission</a> to the Australian Law Reform Commission suggested that immunity be granted to banks that report instances of elder financial abuse.</p>
<p>Finally, given that banks will deal internally with most instances of elder financial abuse, it is important that we ensure the bank’s response balances the autonomy of older people while addressing elder financial abuse. </p>
<h2>Where to from here?</h2>
<p>The commission recommendation is welcome and will bolster the safeguards already in place. More discussion will be needed in the aftermath of the inquiry to ensure the recommendations are implemented and their potential realised.</p>
<p>The reality is that success will rest largely on the good faith of the banks. There must be willingness to build a collaborative and consistent approach to acting on elder financial abuse and to ensure rigorous internal procedures are put in place and followed. Employees who make reports of elder abuse must also have adequate protection. </p>
<p>This, in turn, must feed into an appropriately resourced entity where the most serious matters can be directed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79187/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eileen Webb receives funding from: Queensland Government (Department of Communities), Review of the prevalence and characteristics of elder abuse in Queensland - With Dr Barbara Blundell, Dr Joe Clare, Dr Mike Clare and Dr Emily Moir; 2017 - 2018 AHURI Older Australians and the housing aspirations gap - With Dr Amity James and Professor Steven Rowley; 2017 Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Grant Strategies to enhance tenure security for WA's older renters - With Dr Amity James and Associate Professor Helen Hodgson; 2016 - 2017 AHURI Can social impact investment make a difference to housing and homelessness outcomes? Supporting vulnerable households to achieve their housing goals: the role of impact investment - Project C -With Professor Gill North and Professor Richard Heaney Eileen is a Foundation member of the Australian Research Network on Law and Ageing (ARNLA) and a member of the Western Australian Ministerial Committee on Consumer Law; ShelterWA Board; ShelterWA Advisory Committee on Homelessness; and TenancyWA Boarders and Lodgers Working Group. </span></em></p>The Law Reform Commission has recommended that banks take ‘reasonable steps’ to protect vulnerable Australians.Eileen O'Brien, Associate Professor, Curtin Law School, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/734172017-05-03T01:14:23Z2017-05-03T01:14:23ZWhy Dodd-Frank – or its repeal – won’t save us from the next crippling Wall Street crash<p>Republicans <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-dodd-frank-20170504-story.html">appear poised to roll back</a> Wall Street regulations passed after the 2008 financial crisis. Democrats <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/07/if-trump-repeals-dodd-frank-it-would-be-a-monumental-mistake-bart-chilton-commentary.html">argue doing so</a> would be a “monumental mistake.” </p>
<p>It’s been framed as a typical fight over regulation. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-dodd-frank-demoocrats-20170206-story.html">Democrats want more</a> to protect taxpayers and investors from the next crisis; Republicans want less because it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/business/dealbook/trump-congress-financial-regulations.html">stifles economic growth</a>. </p>
<p>So who’s right? </p>
<p>Based on our combined 35 years of experience with securities markets and the research we’ve done for our new book, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/When-Levees-Break-Re-visioning-Regulation/dp/0739196049">When the Levees Break: Re-visioning Regulation of the Securities Markets</a>,” we think both sides are wrong. The issue isn’t about more or less regulation but about the need for a streamlined system that supports 21st-century investing. </p>
<p>If we had our way, the whole system of financial regulation would be burned to the ground and replaced with something entirely different. </p>
<h2>Of bonds and banks</h2>
<p>Before we go any further, let’s clarify what we’re talking about. When we think of financial markets, we tend to jumble securities markets like stocks, bonds and commodities with conventional bank lending such as checking accounts and lines of credit. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.cftc.gov/LawRegulation/DoddFrankAct/index.htm">Dodd-Frank Act</a>, for example, was ostensibly focused on regulation of securities markets, but the rules that got the most attention were those that affect the “too big to fail” banks. That those banks straddled both worlds made the market crash life-threatening. </p>
<p>But securities trading, and in particularly derivatives, were at the root of the 2008 financial crisis. For our purposes, when we talk about financial regulation, our focus is on the securities markets. </p>
<h2>How did we get here?</h2>
<p>The financial markets meltdown in the fall of 2008 devastated our economy, but it still <a href="http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3024-djia_alltime.html">pales in comparison</a> with the stock market rout that preceded the Great Depression in October 1929. The Dow Jones Industrial Average <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/%5EDJI/history?period1=475822800&period2=1493697600&interval=1d&filter=history&frequency=1d">fell</a> 23 percent from Oct. 28 to Oct. 29 that year, compared with a two-day slide of at most half that throughout the 2008 crisis. </p>
<p>After the 1929 crash, lawmakers reacted by passing laws aimed at ensuring investor protection. Two groundbreaking pieces of legislation, passed in 1933 and 1934, <a href="https://www.sec.gov/about/laws/sa33.pdf">required companies</a> to submit quarterly and annual reports and <a href="https://www.sec.gov/about/laws/sea34.pdf">established the Securities and Exchange Commission</a>. These laws form the cornerstone of modern securities markets regulation. </p>
<p>But they were only the beginning. As markets expanded and changed, Congress continued to craft new laws that added more agencies to oversee Wall Street activities. As a result, we have more than two dozen agencies, self-regulatory organizations and exchanges (including the <a href="https://www.cftc.gov">Commodities & Futures Trading Commission</a>, the Treasury and the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/">Departments of Labor</a> and <a href="https://www.justice.gov">Justice</a>), not to mention state securities agencies, all with overlapping regulatory jurisdictions. </p>
<p>Moreover, the laws have been reactionary – rather than visionary – resulting in competing concerns and duplicative audit and enforcement procedures. Not surprisingly, there is largely no coordination or communication between them. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the SEC – as primary regulator – is bogged down with too many directives, many of which are under- or unfunded. For decades, whenever Congress passed a bill to “regulate” big changes in the markets – from market crashes to “advancements” such as mutual funds and investment advisors – the SEC has been required to add oversight of these new practices to their existing responsibilities. Dodd-Frank, for example, expanded the SEC’s role and called for additional internal audits of existing practices but – like past market-related legislation – failed to include funding for those activities.</p>
<p>Amid all the regulation, investor protection seems to have gotten lost. </p>
<h2>Enter Dodd-Frank</h2>
<p>The severity of the 2008 crash and its economic impact (including investment company failures and unprecedented government bailouts) goaded Congress into action. </p>
<p>In 2010 Democratic lawmakers passed the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/about/laws/wallstreetreform-cpa.pdf">Dodd-Frank Act</a>, <a href="https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2010/11/20/the-financial-panic-of-2008-and-financial-regulatory-reform/">the most extensive revision of securities regulation</a> since the 1930s, with the hope that more regulation would prevent another crisis. </p>
<p>Republicans have argued for its repeal ever since, claiming <a href="http://financialservices.house.gov/dodd-frank/">the law</a> and the regulations designed to implement it (<a href="https://www.davispolk.com/Dodd-Frank-Rulemaking-Progress-Report/">many of which are behind schedule</a>) inhibit prosperity. </p>
<p>Both parties are missing the point. The current system of financial regulation is built on how stocks were traded in the 1930s – when computers and algorithmic trading had yet to be a glimmer in a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quant">quant’s</a> eye. To paraphrase the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAJ3-mbP1pY">Oldsmobile commercial</a>, it’s not your father’s stock market anymore.</p>
<h2>My, how markets have changed</h2>
<p>Financial markets have undergone a fundamental transformation over the past 80 years. </p>
<p>First of all, there are the investors themselves. The mom and pop investor that the SEC was created to protect has by and large been replaced by institutional investors, including quantitative analysts or <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/21shelf.html">“quants”</a> that use complex algorithmic formulas to predict the best trading strategies. In fact, algorithmic trading makes up the <a href="https://www.wired.com/2010/12/ff_ai_flashtrading">majority</a> of volume in today’s markets.</p>
<p>Then there’s the issue of disclosure. Since the dawn of federal securities regulation, lawmakers and regulators have relied on <a href="http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/wvb118&div=6&g_sent=1&collection=journals">disclosure</a> to protect investors. Public companies are required to disclose volumes of information, from <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2015-160.html">financial information</a> to dealings with <a href="https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cfannouncements/itr-act2012.htm">Iran</a> and even their <a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/final/33-8177.htm">Code of Ethics</a>. As a result, <a href="https://www.transactionadvisors.com/insights/considering-ipo-costs-going-and-being-public-may-surprise-you">a company can spend</a> <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-much-time-does-a-US-company-typically-spend-on-SEC-filing">over a million dollars each year</a> complying with disclosure regulations that few people actually read. Yet every time there’s a new disaster, Congress piles on the disclosure requirements, as happened with Dodd-Frank. </p>
<p>But for all the hundreds of pages of disclosure, at no time in the past 80 years has there been a mandate to review the actual securities products issued by public companies and investment banks. There are no “safety” standards for stocks, like there are for cars or toasters. The products that brought down the house in 2008 – mortgage-backed securities and products derived from them – continue to be offered to the public, including new ones backed by credit card debt and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/dont-panic-wall-sts-going-crazy-for-student-loans-but-this-is-no-bubble/273682/">student loans</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, the SEC and other regulators are unequipped to keep up with the breathtaking changes in technology, let alone anticipate potential advances and challenges. To understand why, one must only consider the breadth of organizations that have fallen victim to hackers, from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-03-13/target-missed-warnings-in-epic-hack-of-credit-card-data">Target</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/technology/yahoo-hack-indictment.html?_r=0">Yahoo</a> to the <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/computer-hacking-veterans-affairs-department-092227">Veterans Administration,</a> and the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-cyber-idUSKCN0YN4AM">Federal Reserve itself</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, however, Congress <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/how-they-got-away-with-it/9780231156912">does not fund the SEC</a> in a way that would allow it to pay for the skills or systems it needs to keep up with technological and other market advances. Following Dodd-Frank, for example, the SEC’s budget was actually reduced, even as its responsibilities multiplied.</p>
<p>In sum, what we have is a regulatory system that fails in its mission to protect investors. The structure used to oversee current investment practices, corporate disclosures, product development and technological advances is based on the market failures of 1929. It’s a bit like trying to surf the internet using a typewriter. </p>
<h2>Preparing for the next crash</h2>
<p>The next “big” crash will likely be bigger than the last one. So how do we prepare for it? </p>
<p>Dodd-Frank is largely an extension of the patchwork structure and won’t protect us in the future. Yet the Republican answer, to repeal it and let markets self-regulate, won’t stop the proliferation of products that nearly brought the house down in 2008. After the next crash, institutions will not be too big to fail, they’ll be too big to save.</p>
<p>The answer, in our view, is <a href="https://revisioninginvesting.com/">a complete rethinking of how we regulate investing</a>. As the White House moves to dismantle Dodd-Frank, this is the perfect time to do exactly that. Let’s get rid of what doesn’t work – which is pretty much everything – and replace it with a system that does. </p>
<p>What we envision is a contemporary, 21st-century holistic structure built on proactive, thoughtful and streamlined laws that takes into account markets that are technology-driven and move in nanoseconds. </p>
<p>Think of it this way: Our regulatory structure is like the dike that keeps springing leaks – the makeshift plugs we’ve used are so ineffective that the dike isn’t leaking – it’s crumbling. We need to build a new dike, using all available technology, before the next tidal wave hits. </p>
<p>We don’t claim to have all the answers. But we want to get the conversation started. We invite you to join in.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73417/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Instead, we need to burn the entire system of financial regulation to the ground and replace it with something that supports investing the way it’s done today.Jena Martin, Professor of Law, West Virginia UniversityKaren Kunz, Associate Professor of Public Administration, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/707542017-01-16T19:04:59Z2017-01-16T19:04:59ZWhen care becomes control - financial abuse cuts across cultures<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152833/original/image-20170116-16925-19k70cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The study examined how women experienced financial abuse across cultures.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Carol, in her late 60s, had a joint bank account with her second husband. She put her A$60,000 in savings into it. Her husband didn’t have a regular wage but controlled the money, Carol also had a credit card but her husband monitored its use.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I wouldn’t dare spend it on anything without speaking to him,” she said. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This use of a joint account to financially abuse is just one out of nine I encountered in a pilot study with my fellow researchers Marg Liddell and Jasvinder Sidhu. We examined how financial channels used to express care can also be used to control. </p>
<p>The pilot study is based on 40 interviews in metropolitan Anglo-Celtic and Indian communities in Melbourne and Sydney. There were 13 interviews with Anglo-Celtic women and 13 with Indian women with past experience of family violence (all have pseudonyms in this article). Another 14 interviews were conducted with community leaders and family violence service providers.</p>
<p>The women we interviewed all told of their partners monitoring, denying and restricting access to money. Men in these relationships also withheld their earnings from household use or stopped working, reducing their partner’s access to money, especially benefits. </p>
<p>In both the Anglo-Celtic and Indian communities cultural expectations around the way men and women manage and control money shape financial abuse in relationships. For example joint bank accounts <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/other-books/Marriage-Money-Supriya-Singh-9781864483284">are a symbol of commitment</a> in Anglo-Celtic marriage. </p>
<p>But another stereotype of the man as the provider also proved to be a myth among the Anglo-Celtic women we interviewed. Of our 13 participants, ten husbands or partners didn’t provide financial support for their partners.</p>
<p>Karen, 60, said her husband stopped working two years after they got married. When he did work, he spent the money he earned on “men’s toys”, while she budgeted $1 a serve of meat per person. </p>
<p>In the Indian community money controlled by the male in the family, is a means of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02047.x/abstract">ensuring family protection and well-being</a>. So, we found women in the Australian Indian community were slow to question the beginnings of financial abuse. </p>
<p>Fiona, 47, who used to work as a financial analyst, deposited her savings in her husband’s account. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I totally trusted him. I didn’t think I wanted to have my own account.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not all of our participants agreed to their husbands controlling their money. In the two stories we heard of women keeping their money separate from their partners, the marriage ended. </p>
<p>Asha, 32, an information technology professional and her husband had agreed to keep some money joint and the rest separate. After marriage, her husband pressed to control the household money. Asha said “He saw this as a trust issue.” The marriage ended in less than two years.</p>
<p>Money for most Indian families <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9781137557162">belongs to the family rather than the couple</a>. For example a lot of Indian parents fund their children’s education in Australia, they also help if they can with housing and investment. In return, children, particularly sons, see it as their duty to care for their parents in terms of money and care. </p>
<p>But this dynamic can also lead to the husband feeling entitled to sending his wife’s earnings - without consultation - to his parents. One of our study participants Devi, 33 came to Australia on a student visa in 2006, with her husband who had a spouse visa. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Sometimes, I knew he had sent money to his parents and sometimes, I did not…”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Indian communities a husband may also feel he <a href="http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3598386">can legitimately ask his wife’s family for money and assets</a>. This is in cases where there may or may not be dowry (payments from the bride’s family when the couple marry). However our interviews showed this can also lead to a continual extortion of money from the wife’s family.</p>
<p>Devi said her parents did not pay a dowry, but they paid the couple’s travel costs for migration. Under pressure from her husband, her parents sold land in India to help them buy land to build a house.</p>
<p>Another study participant’s parents also sent over A$100,000 which went to her husband for his business.</p>
<p>These are just results from our initial research and we hope to continue studying this type of financial abuse in other cultures, regional and rural areas and from the perspective of men. </p>
<p>If families are more sensitive as to how culture shapes conversations about money and respectful relationships, it could help to prevent this abuse. It also raises red flags for family violence service providers about how financial abuse crosses cultures. </p>
<p>Hearing these stories, a woman who teaches service providers how to identify financial abuse in our study said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I began to think how I should talk about money with my four year old daughter.”</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70754/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Supriya Singh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study finds financial abuse can be disguised as care and is tied into social values of the Anglo-Celtic and Indian communities.Supriya Singh, Professor, Sociology of Communications, Graduate School of Business & Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/593012016-05-25T03:25:05Z2016-05-25T03:25:05ZMoney plays a role in family violence across cultures<p>Most women who face economic abuse do not see it as family violence. But the <a href="http://www.rcfv.com.au/">Victorian Royal Commission on Family Violence</a> connected the two.</p>
<p>Economic abuse has only recently been recognised as part of family violence in Australian law. </p>
<p>The Royal Commission <a href="http://files.rcfv.com.au/Reports/Final/RCFV-All-Volumes.pdf">report</a> places economic abuse within the wider framework of economic gender inequality. Following Good Shepherd’s formulation it defines economic abuse as behaviours that “control a woman’s ability to acquire, use and maintain economic resources, thus threatening her economic security and potential for self-sufficiency”.</p>
<p>The examples range from restricting women’s access to funds, not allowing women to work or study, restricting mobility, having women take on debt that only benefits the perpetrator, or threatening to cut off services. Economic or financial abuse can also take place when the woman leaves her abuser. This involves not paying child support and using legal processes the woman cannot afford to gain an unfair advantage in property settlement.</p>
<p>The Royal Commission recommends improving the understanding of economic abuse and improving financial literacy. It asks for a greater emphasis on economic abuse in general education and training for Victoria Police, financial counsellors and other agencies dealing with family violence. It details a needed change of processes and legal definitions so that courts and tribunals, financial institutions, utilities and other service providers take account of economic abuse.</p>
<p>The Royal Commission outlines several stories of how the joint bank account and joint assets are abused. These are also documented by <a href="http://www.wire.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/WIRE-Research-Report_Relationship-Problems-and-Money-Women-talk-about-financial-abuse-August2014.pdf">WIRE</a>, <a href="http://www.womenslegal.org.au/files/file/Stepping%20Stones%20Report(1).pdf">Stepping Stones</a>, <a href="http://www.goodshep.org.au/media/1417/good-policy-vol-11-no-1-march-2016-5mb.pdf">Good Shepherd</a> and <a href="https://www.goodshep.org.au/media/1220/restoring-financial-safety_legal-responses-to-economic-abuse_web.pdf">Wyndham Legal Service</a>. </p>
<p>The Commission tells of a woman with a joint bank account who was made to live frugally while her husband withdrew money daily from the account. He was also moving large amounts of money from their pension funds.</p>
<p>Another woman told of how her wages went to the joint account. Her husband deposited his earnings in his personal account. She saved a few thousand dollars over time only to find he had spent it all in one month.</p>
<p>While the Royal Commission has successfully placed economic abuse as part of family violence, there is no reference to the sociology of money which focuses on the social and cultural understandings of money. Academic literature on the sociology of money also does not refer to family violence. </p>
<p>The joint bank account often symbolises <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/other-books/Marriage-Money-Supriya-Singh-9781864483284">togetherness and partnership</a>. But the joint account can also lead to abuse as the stories above show. Even in more everyday situations, the joint account can be used to avert questions of power and ownership while asserting control. </p>
<p>Women in my research used the joint account for the household and the children. But one of the joys of even poorly paid part-time work was that they could buy a dress, a book, have a pedicure, without feeling they had misused the money. The husband was often horrified to hear this. But this was an unspoken tension, for money earned was money owned. </p>
<p>Some women focused on strategies to avert control. One technique was to split the plastic, by putting an expensive item on two credit cards. </p>
<p>In India male control of money is the norm, particularly in joint families in small towns. Money is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02047.x/abstract;jsessionid=49CE36EF34AD3868D0C0595CDD16F820.d02t03">owned by the family</a> rather than the couple. In India it is presented as protection and part of the patrilineal family, but in Australia it leads to an uneasy negotiation with Australian norms and the couple owning money in a marriage. </p>
<p>One woman I will call Ekta sobbed, talking of how her marriage had dissolved within three years. Ekta, 27, was the main earner. Her husband was on a spouse visa. But he used the money she earned for all the household expenses, sent his money and her money to his parents. By the time she left the marriage, her husband had moved all the money from their joint account to his separate account. </p>
<p>Jasvinder Sidhu, co-founder of Jagriti, a community forum to address family violence in the Indian community in Victoria, talks of a woman he calls Pooja. She arrived in Melbourne a few months ago after marrying an Indian permanent resident. Her mother-in-law asked Pooja to tell her parents to send additional money and wanted control of Pooja’s jewelry. </p>
<p>Jagjit (pseudonym) who married an Australian Indian said her husband threatened divorce if she did not ask her parents to transfer their property to her as she was the only child. </p>
<p>The social and cultural understandings of money in family and marriage are a necessary foundation for effective policy and practice relating to family violence. They are at the heart of the tussle between commitment, financial independence and togetherness in marriage and family. </p>
<p>My current research with <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/195836922?selectedversion=NBD55145651">Dr Marg Liddell</a> of RMIT University and <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/family-violence-the-passage-from-india-can-be-rough-for-women-20151014-gk8lbb.html">Jasvinder Sidhu</a> of Federation University will compare women’s past experience of financial violence in intimate partner relations and elder abuse in the Anglo-Celtic and Indian communities in Australia. </p>
<p>We hope to learn how mothers who have experienced family violence can fireproof their daughters against it. If we can translate our sociological insights to policy and practice, we will make a difference.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Supriya Singh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To formulate better policy on family violence, we need to understand economic abuse.Supriya Singh, Professor, Sociology of Communications, Graduate School of Business & Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.