TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei Fubon Bank has partnered with the Hondao Senior Citizen’s Welfare Foundation to promote specialized financial services for senior citizens.
This year, the partnership will extend to the prevention of fraud and financial exploitation of the elderly. On successive Fridays in December (Dec.15, 22, and 29), classes will be held to improve the financial security of seniors.
The classes will include "How to plan a good elder care trust," "How to use insurance trusts." Through easy-to-understand explanations, the elderly and their families can gain a greater understanding of financial trusts and utilize this important financial investment tool to protect themselves in the later years of their lives.
As Taiwan moves towards a super-aged society in 2025, Taipei Fubon Bank is building an age-friendly environment to meet the needs of the elderly. This includes offering more financial services to this demographic group, such as investment trusts and end-of-life insurance for seniors.
Taipei Fubon Bank has sponsored the "Journalist Impact Award” for two consecutive years and jointly conducted the "Senior Pension Peace of Mind - Future Trends in Economic Security" survey with the Hondao Senior Citizen’s Welfare Foundation, using a quantitative questionnaire to better understand the knowledge of citizens aged 50–64 regarding pensions, insurance, financial trust, and other financial services.
The survey found that 80% of mature respondents will read the terms of the contract when purchasing financial products. However, due to too much information, complex content, and small fonts, only 23% said they could fully understand the terms of the financial contract. This represents a huge gap in awareness and actual usage of financial products.
For example, elder care trusts are generally known to this group, but only a limited number of people actually make use of them. Taipei Fubon Bank said "branch services," "financial education," and "friendly DNA" are a long-term focus for the bank to provide services to seniors.
For example, all 179 branches of Taipei Fubon Bank have special "senior counters" that are equipped with reading glasses, wheelchairs, business communication charts, and other assistive devices. This gives elderly customers the opportunity to better manage their financial transactions in a more efficient and comfortable manner.
In addition, each branch has utilized a "Senior Rating Scale" to strengthen bank awareness of the needs of the elderly. In June, the bank formulated "Dementia-Friendly Service Guidelines," conducting educational training to guide branch staff to identify signs of dementia and provide services to the elderly.
Taipei Fubon Bank has also extended cooperation to other industries, such as a partnership with Mackay Memorial Hospital to develop the "Abundant Life" board game. The game is similar to Monopoly in that it introduces basic financial knowledge and common fraud techniques to promote financial awareness. The board game also includes a cognitive assessment test.
This year, Taipei Fubon Bank and Hondao Senior Citizen’s Welfare Foundation held board game activities at 12 branches, attracting nearly 100 customers to participate. Additionally, some 23 community activities were held in the countryside, attracting some 610 elders to participate in the event.
In order to improve the quality of service provided to elderly customers, Taipei Fubon Bank began offering educational training videos on topics such as cross-generational dialogue and communication with hearing-impaired elders in 2022. These videos have been used for training courses for bank staff, and more than 2,700 people have completed the training.
To give staff more appreciation for the plight of aging customers, some staff were asked to wear specialized equipment to allow them to experience many of the daily inconveniences that seniors experience in daily life. In the following year, 2023, the bank continued training staff with role-play exercises that imitated elderly people with dementia. This training has now become compulsory training for new employees.
Taipei Fubon Bank adheres to core values, which include protecting the financial rights of all customers with the principles of fairness and hospitality. The bank has invested many resources over the years to develop financial services with a social mission.
In the future, Taipei Fubon Bank will continue to play to its strengths and connect people from all walks of life to create a more convenient, safe, considerate, and friendly financial services environment for the elderly. The bank also seeks to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and reduce inequality.
