Respect and Protect: a firm no to financial abuse

As a member-owned bank established by members of Victoria Police, we take very seriously the devastating impact financial abuse and coercion can have on those who experience it. The use of financial levers to control, abuse or manipulate others, is something we as a bank do not tolerate, and this has been formally acknowledged through becoming a signatory to the Respect and Protect initiative.

Established by former banking executive turned social entrepreneur Catherine Fitzpatrick, Respect and Protect is disrupting financial abuse and gender bias through smarter product and service design, and eliminating financially-abusive behaviour through warnings, account suspension, or closure.

Rachel Morley, Chief Member Growth & Experience Officer, has been driving enhancements to BankVic’s policies and operations in recent years and said this was a moment of proud confirmation for BankVic.

“Financial abuse is a form of coercive control and we have zero tolerance for it. As a bank, we see some of the signs – both overt and covert – of abusive behaviour in the way people may treat and interact with those close to them. We actively monitor transactions and intervene where we need to, and we’ve invested in training our people to identify the signs of financial abuse and how they can work supportively with those experiencing it.

“Formalising our pledge to Respect and Protect is a proud moment for us. We support the strong leadership of people like Catherine Fitzpatrick, and are committed to embedding the identification and elimination of financial abuse wherever we find it.”

Rebecca Boissezon, Chief Product & Marketing Officer, has worked with Rachel to enshrine this in our general terms and conditions, enabling us to monitor and censure unacceptable behaviour.

“There are a number of ways that banking products and services can be shaped to say no to this behaviour, and we’ve already implemented a number of components. We’ll continue to identify more and make further changes along the way to reduce financial abuse even further.

“We reached a key milestone in July, when we enshrined in our terms and conditions our intention to either suspend or cancel the memberships and accounts of perpetrators.”

Rachel and Rebecca highlighted BankVic’s collaboration with like-minded organisations such as Victoria Police and Crime Stoppers Victoria, to inform and support members in the prevention of all forms of harm, abuse, control, and violence.

From our proud heritage of member-focused financial empowerment, BankVic continues to be guided by serving and protecting our community from harm, just as our members do. 

More information about the Respect and Protect initiative is available on their website.