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Economic violence

There are many women in Israel who are experiencing various forms of violent behavior against them, which can often include economic violence.  In many instances, victims of domestic violence and abusive relationships seek assistance through community based prevention and treatment programs, and in some cases they are forced to escape their homes and abusive spouses without any assistance or means. Their isolation and fear are generally compounded by difficulty in properly conducting their own financial affairs, which increases their dependence on their abusive spouses and prevents them from turning a new page in their lives.

In order to help them, the Banking Supervision Department, together with the Association of Banks, social organizations, and financial institutions—including the banks, credit card companies, and the Postal Bank—has formulated a program that will provide a rapid and professional response to the financial difficulties being experienced by victims of domestic violence. 

The program is anchored in the “Financial Availability Covenant”—a voluntary covenant launched in January 2016 to help women who are in shelters and half-way houses with their children to deal with their financial situations. Following three years of activity, in which the Covenant helped many victims of domestic violence, a pilot program was launched in June 2019, together with the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security and the “Women’s Spirit” organization, to expand the assistance to victims of violence being helped at community assistance centers. Following the successful pilot, as of March 6, 2022, the financial institutions are prepared to apply the Covenant at all centers in Israel. Accordingly, the text of the Covenant was amended.

The main goal of the program is to provide financial assistance to victims of domestic violence.  That assistance shall be: 

  1. Rapidly available – Relevant contact people will be available to provide a rapid response that is critical in helping victims of domestic violence, since such victims may be at a critical stage in their struggle or in a state of emergency.
  2. Targeted and professional – Finding and implementing optimal solutions to meet the financial needs of each and every victim of domestic violence.
  3. Forward looking – Financial education toward optimal financial conduct in the long term, will help the person for the rest of her life.
  4. Personal – Human guidance for financial system employees to help them work with the customer with sensitivity, consideration, and understanding of her unique circumstances.
  5. Efficient:
    1. In preventing economic deterioration and deepening debts while the victim lacks income, or preventing the victim from being left without access to essential services for her or her children as a result of malicious economic behavior on the part of her spouse.
    2. In helping to create the infrastructure for the victim’s financial independence after disconnecting herself from economic dependence on her spouse. 

The main steps in the program and the main principles guiding its implementation are anchored in the Covenant.

 

* Since the vast majority of victims of domestic violence whom the Covenant and the program aim to help are women, the Covenant and the program refer to victims of domestic violence as women.  However, the Covenant and the program are intended to serve both female and male victims of domestic violence, and such assistance will be provided without differentiating between the recipients’ genders.

To the Financial Availability Covenant