Three in four Australians want financial abuse protections from companies they deal with, and nearly a quarter (23%) are prepared to switch companies based on their actions to address this hidden and pervasive form of domestic and family violence.
The inaugural respect and protect index 2025, released today by social enterprise Flequity Ventures, also shows:
- Australians believe companies have a responsibility and important role to protect consumers. 96% of Australians agree companies should aim to protect customers from financial abuse
- This is not just a women’s issue. 82% agree financial abuse protections promoted by the respect and protect public awareness campaign are relevant to all customers and 89% to all genders
- For many, it’s personal. 3 in 5 say financial abuse is an issue important to them personally, especially single parents (76%)
- Financial services are overwhelmingly seen as having the greatest responsibility to act. Insurance, superannuation, wealth/investments and banking ranked highest, but other sectors including utilities, telecommunications, property, technology, education and retail were also considered important
- Few are aware of the actions already underway, and they’d like to know more. 25% were aware that certain businesses had updated their terms and conditions, banning the misuse of their products and services for financial abuse. 92% think companies could be doing more to protect customers from financial abuse.
Respect and protect is a public awareness campaign which aims to encourage businesses to adopt terms and conditions to make it clear that financial abuse is an unacceptable customer behaviour that may result in a warning, account suspension or closure, or report to law enforcement. To date, 49 businesses across 10 sectors have become the first in the world to include or pledge financial abuse bans in their policies, terms and conditions. This includes: 29 banks; 8 insurers; 4 water providers and other businesses across education, energy, superannuation, technology, telecommunications and transport. In addition, Celsus, the operator of the Royal Adelaide Hospital has become the first Australian business to address financial abuse through its supplier policy, setting a new benchmark for corporate responsibility.
“More than 20 million customers have been told businesses won’t condone disrespectful and controlling behaviour, and they’ll change their practices to explicitly forbid and censure it,” says Flequity founder and director Catherine Fitzpatrick, also Adjunct Associate Professor UNSW School of Social Sciences.
“We know few customers read the fine print of their contracts. But they want protection, and they want to know more. We urge all businesses with joint accounts, credit and online services to join the first movers of this globally leading action. Doing nothing is no longer an option.”
The respect and protect index 2025 provides a snapshot of community sentiment and actions from businesses to mobilise against perpetrators of financial abuse. Flequity Ventures commissioned Octopus Research to survey 1,000 Australians on their attitudes to businesses acting to prevent the weaponisation of products and services.
Financial abuse is where money is used to control another person. It is almost as prevalent as physical violence and is a tactic of coercive control, which is a lead indicator of homicide. Businesses may unintentionally help financial abusers because their products and services may be weaponised for control and manipulation. Perpetrators misuse services like banks, insurance, superannuation, telecommunications, energy and water to threaten victim-survivors or accrue debts in their name, leaving them financially devastated.
Economic abuse affects one in six Australian women and one in 13 men, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The financial toll on victims is estimated at $5.7 billion according to Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deloitte Access Economics, 2022. This is almost $3 billion more than the total amount lost to scams in Australia in 2023, based on a report from the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission. This type of abuse often traps victims in cycles of financial dependence and hardship for many years, even well beyond separation or divorce.
The full respect and protect index 2025 is available for download here.