Financial abuse rarely makes headlines. While it leaves no visible injuries, it can be just as destructive as physical harm, and far more common than most people realise. In SA, one in three women have experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence.
What’s less visible is how often money is used as a weapon of control. Financial abuse occurs in most domestic violence cases, with more than half of women in abusive relationships are subjected to economic control. At Nedbank, our research and financial abuse survivor engagements have shown how money becomes a tool of coercion.
It often starts subtly, appearing as care or concern, but over time strips women of independence. Common signs include being denied access to your own income, pressured into debt, or guilt-tripped for wanting to work. Some abusers demand receipts for every expense or insist that financial independence is unnecessary.
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Many women in these situations find themselves unable to leave because they lack access to money, making them financially dependent on their abusers. Recognising these signs early is critical, yet public awareness remains low. To help shift this, Nedbank launched itsMoney Warnings initiativeduring 16 Days of Activism.
We placed warning strips across our own advertising to expose how money can be used to harm. Too often, women are told to be more financially savvy. Yet according to the 2025 Nedbank Financial Health Index, they are more likely than men to pay bills on time and stay on top of debt.
Despite this, many report high financial stress and low security. This is not about poor money management — it is about systems that ignore the realities women face. When financial products assume one dominant account holder or treat coerced debt as legitimate, they create what we call “abuse risk”.
For example, if a woman is forced to take out a loan under duress, she remains liable, even though the debt was coerced. If an account is structured to give one partner control, it can be used to trap the other. These gaps in design allow abuse to flourish.
Reactive support alone can’t fix this. We must redesign financial systems with safety in mind.
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