UOB branches train staff to deal with financial abuse by family to tackle ‘growing issue’

SINGAPORE - Bank staff at UOB branches are being taught to spot signs of familial financial abuse, especially of older customers, so they can provide support to potential victims.

UOB said on July 31 this was an industry-first initiative aimed at addressing the growing issue of familial financial abuse, while also recognising the challenges of identifying such cases.

It said the training programme, which was developed and conducted by NTUC LearningHub, will equip staff with a better understanding of the nuances of this issue and to handle potential cases with more empathy, understanding and finesse when required.

The seven-hour training programme involves theory lessons and role-play to simulate real-life scenarios faced at branches such as suspicious transactions, irregular joint account requests and third-party interference.

The staff are tested on what they have learnt. 

Speaking to the media on July 31 on the sidelines of a training session at NTUC Trade Union House, Mr Benny Chan, managing director of UOB’s group channels and digitalisation, said that such a case, for instance, could involve a family member taking advantage of the fact that he or she is trusted to siphon money against the customer’s wishes or without the customer knowing.

He said, in the last six months, the bank’s branches have flagged twice as many such requests or transactions as in the same time period in 2024.

Mr Chan said: “Based on the reports that we are getting from all the branches islandwide, we realise that we have this new issue that is evolving, and the volumes have been rising very sharply.”

When asked how the bank would deal with legitimate cases, he said it is a challenge to distinguish such cases from actual abuse, but that is what the training is trying to address.

“It’s about trying to have an audience and a conversation with the elderly person without the family members being present, so that we can really ascertain what they are thinking of and how they really feel about it.”

He added: “We want to better protect our customers, and this is a problem we want to solve. The only way to solve it is by better training our people to identify (such cases), because they are not usually the most easily identifiable.”

Through the programme, participants are taught to identify signs and potential victims of familial financial abuse and engage and gather information sensitively from the customers in question.

They also learn to react and respond appropriately in the presence of family members, and to call upon the relevant government or social agencies for assistance if needed.

UOB aims to train 400 staff across all its 53 branches and privilege banking centres in Singapore by the end of 2025. 

So far, four sessions have been conducted for a total of 83 branch staff.

One of them, Mr Sebastian Loh Yu Soon, a 36-year-old assistant branch manager at UOB’s Jurong Point branch, said warning signs could be a request to increase the number of account holders, apply for internet banking, withdraw large sums of money or close accounts.

His branch has handled four such cases in 2025 so far, compared with two in the previous year.

Mr Loh said the challenge in such cases is that the customer is usually accompanied by the family member, and may have been coached on what to say.

“So it’s very hard for us to dig more or step in further to assist them,” he added.

Another programme participant, Ms Michelle Choong, a 42-year-old deputy branch manager at UOB’s branch in the Paya Lebar Quarter mall, recalled how a man in his 70s came to the branch in March to report that over $5,000 had been withdrawn from his account without his authorisation while he was in hospital.

He thought it could be a scam, but after questions by the bank staff, he revealed that his daughter had his ATM PIN and that his son-in-law could have made the withdrawal.

Branch staff took the precaution of freezing his account temporarily, but when the man returned more than a month later, he said he did not want to pursue the matter further, saying it was “complicated”.

Despite the growing potential for such abuse, Ms Choong said it is a challenge for bank staff to deal with such situations because of the emotional attachment between the alleged perpetrator and the victim.

Ms Choong said: “We could try our best to convince the customer that this transaction probably might do more harm than good, but, ultimately, the final decision still stays with the customer.”