Survivor Inclusion Initiative

Released in September 2019 at the United Nations General Assembly, Unlocking Potential: A Blueprint for Mobilizing Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking, provides a shared collective-action framework for the global financial sector. It comprises 5 goals with 30 actions that different financial sector actors can implement in their own ways to help address modern slavery and human trafficking. It also includes a FAST Implementation Toolkit with practical tools and initiatives, such as risk-mapping tools to help financial sector actors. The Survivor Inclusion Initiative is part of the FAST Implementation Toolkit.

Having endured exploitation, survivors often discover that their traffickers have hijacked their financial identity or banking products for money laundering or other criminal purposes, which may adversely impact their credit record and complicate financial recovery. Lack of access to bank accounts has numerous knock-on effects on other parts of daily life, including securing personal identification, acquiring legal employment, accessing and safely storing personal funds as well as obtaining housing and savings. Survivors who attempt to open bank accounts may be denied services due to risk indicators arising from their financial histories—or simply because they lack required documentation.

Helping survivors access basic banking tools and services allows them to rebuild their lives and to contribute to the community. The Survivor Inclusion Initiative brings together financial institutions, survivor support organizations and survivors to assist with the financial recovery process.

The Survivor Inclusion Initiative connects survivors to financial institutions through reliable survivor support organizations.

Participating financial institutions and survivor support organizations closely collaborate to streamline survivor referral and onboarding using the templates provided, which they adapt to their own circumstances. Close collaboration enables safe and reliable engagement with survivors, as well as shared learning. It also reduces transaction costs for financial institutions, as survivor support organizations often help to verify survivor details and status.

The FAST Secretariat — based at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research in New York — matches these organizations, and provides templates and materials to facilitate client referral and onboarding. In some cases, this involves background work to ensure regulators are comfortable with the risk management approach financial institutions will take during the onboarding process. The FAST Secretariat also provides training resources, direct support and periodic convenings of all participating entities to facilitate peer learning.

The Survivor Inclusion Initiative is a global initiative. We welcome interest from financial institutions and survivor support organizations worldwide and can provide information and materials upon request. However, the Survivor Inclusion Initiative is formally operational only in regions where we can match financial institutions to local survivor support organizations in order to ensure survivors a safe and supported path through the referral and onboarding process. Currently, we have entities participating from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. We anticipate further growth in the months ahead. A full list of participating entities is below.

The Survivor Inclusion Initiative provides resources to help participating financial institutions manage the risks associated with client onboarding in these circumstances. Requirements differ by jurisdiction. In each jurisdiction where the Survivor Inclusion Initiative is operational, there are solutions available to allow for the safe onboarding of survivor clients.

Financial institutions participating in the Survivor Inclusion Initiative always offer basic checking and savings accounts to survivor clients. Some institutions offer additional products, such as debit cards, credit cards or financial literacy training. Specific services, referral guidelines and branch locations are outlined in the Survivor Inclusion Initiative Banking Referral Guide, which is provided to all participating survivor support organizations. The Survivor Inclusion Initiative is working to expand the products and services participating entities provide to include: credit repair, loan assistance and financial literacy training for survivors—which will be incorporated by 2021.

If your organization is interested in learning more about the Survivor Inclusion Initiative, please use the contact form below and a member of the FAST Secretariat will be in touch to arrange an introductory call.

The Survivor Inclusion Initiative itself does not provide direct support to survivors. If you are a survivor in need of assistance within the United States, please contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline. If you need assistance outside the United States, you can find contact details for international organizations and other helplines here.