How can we ensure that the person taking out an investment really understands what they are signing, that it corresponds to what they want and to their interests?
The delicate question of “informed consent” becomes even more so if the client is elderly. And that he is therefore, more than others, able to “present disturbances in the demonstration” of this informed consent… without yet benefiting from legal protection (curatorship, guardianship, etc.).
It’s here “gray area”described by sociologist Clara Deville in a study entitled “ Business practices and aging populations », published in February by Sciences Po and the University of Paris-Dauphine-PSL. The testimonies collected are striking, such as that of this association manager who says he saw ” regularly “in its permanence, “older people who prefer to say yes to their financial advisor so as not to get angry with them.”
” The other dayhe continues, a lady explained to me that her father had taken out life insurance. She found the papers on the dresser in the living room, she asked her father what they were, he said he didn’t know. He had signed papers at the bank, and, according to his daughter, only to please his advisor. This gentleman is very alone, his children live far away, his friends are almost all dead and buried (…), as soon as there is a bond with someone, he will do anything to keep it. »
These concerns are not new. In April 2021, the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) and the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR) asked financial institutions to get to work, to strengthen their vigilance towards vulnerable elderly customers. With a double watchword: limit inappropriate marketing, without discriminating against elderly people. A balancing act.
No age to be old
Two and a half years later, the results are mixed. “The majority of establishments met took the issue into account (…) but with variable intensity », note the AMF and the ACPR in a summary of bilateral interviews conducted at the end of 2022 with fourteen bankers and insurers, which must be published on November 7. In short: progress, but can do better.
“Some establishments have made good progress, others much less”summarizes Claire Castanet, director of relations with savers at the AMF. “Our arrest was demanding. But it is a long-term job. It requires time, reflection, and the integration of new practices into the processes. The subject is understood, establishments now have everything in hand to act”she continues.
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