Federal Regulators Seek Public Comment on Model Privacy Notice

GuidanceFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)Privacy

Eight federal regulators on Wednesday released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) requesting comment on a model privacy form that financial institutions can use for their privacy notices to consumers required by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act). The privacy notices must describe an institution's information sharing practices, and, for certain types of sharing, consumers have the right to opt out. The notices must be provided when a consumer first becomes a customer of a financial institution and then annually for as long as the customer relationship lasts.

Last October, President Bush signed into law the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006, amending the GLB Act to require the agencies to propose a model form that is succinct and comprehensible to consumers, allows consumers easily to compare privacy practices of financial institutions, and uses easily readable type font.

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