Family and domestic violence can affect anyone. As well as the tragic human cost involved, it also has an enormous social and economic cost for Australia.

We know that family and domestic violence is not limited to physical abuse and may also include emotional and psychological abuse, sexual abuse and financial and economic abuse.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, its estimated that 2.4 million Australian adults have experienced economic abuse by a partner since the age of 15. The proportion of women (16%) who have experienced economic abuse is around double the proportion of men.

This is a complex issue with no easy solution. Financial and economic abuse is used as a tool of control in abusive relationships with often lifelong impacts. It creates uncertainty and insecurity that make it difficult for people to leave abusive relationships out of fear of financial hardship or disadvantage.

This week, the Council of Australian Life Insurers (CALI) released new best practice guidance for life insurers to help them support Australians impacted by family and domestic violence.

As a business committed to putting the customer at the heart of everything we do, Acenda (formerly MLC Life Insurance) supports the guidelines released by CALI and recognises the important role Life insurers can play.

Financial abuse can occur to anyone regardless of their gender, ethnicity, sexuality, or socioeconomic background. It is about power, control and manipulation and often occurs alongside other forms of violence.

A person might take out a life insurance policy with themselves as the owner and their partner as the insured. A few years after the policy started the policy owner is found to be the perpetrator of family and domestic violence against their partner. The victim contacts the life insurer as they are fearful that they could be seriously harmed by their partner for the proceeds of the life insurance policy on their life.

As the perpetrator of the family and domestic violence is the policy owner, they may deliberately not authorise changes to the policy, to antagonise, anger or further control the victim with threats of violence and coercive behaviour.

As life insurance policies are legal contracts where the right to make changes to the policy or to transact on the policy sits solely with the legal policy owner, there is often more that the life insurer would like to do, but cannot. This is why it so important for life insurers to be able to detect situations of family and domestic violence in order to provide support to the victims through engaging with their financial adviser or other professionals, or offering alternative processes.

Detecting whether someone is experiencing family and domestic violence can be challenging. Life insurers are encouraged to take steps to make the identification of potential signs of family and domestic violence easier and to put in place processes to assist customers affected by it.

This includes training staff to recognise signs of family and domestic violence, offering safe and alternative ways to communicate, working with support people such as financial counsellors and social workers, and making victims aware of their options when they do experience financial hardship.

As Life insurers we can also consider family and domestic violence in product design to provide flexibility and minimise the risk of misuse.

The claims process is also an area where signs of family and domestic violence can become evident. It is important that as life insurers we handle claims with sensitivity, flexibility and care, particularly when the victim and perpetrator are joint policy holders, or the perpetrator has caused the claim.

Just as life insurance has given millions of Australians peace of mind that they have financial support to help face lifeʼs biggest challenges, itʼs important that those experiencing family and domestic violence donʼt encounter any additional barriers and can also enjoy the peace of mind they deserve. This is at the heart of Acendaʼs customer-focused values.

Kent Griffin is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Acenda (formerly MLC Life Insurance)