New Legislation Would Establish Nationwide Customer Information Sharing Standard

Washington, DC, April 11, 2003 - New legislation has been introduced that would establish the privacy standards set forth in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLB Act) as the uniform national standard for financial privacy. Under the GLB Act, financial institutions may share customer information with affiliates, but must provide customers an opportunity to opt-out of sharing with nonaffiliated third parties unless otherwise exempted.

The National Uniform Privacy Standards Act of 2003 (H.R. 1766), introduced by Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-OH), would make permanent the preemption provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which will expire at the end of this year.

The Institute supports the creation of a single, nationwide standard for the sharing of customer information that does not unduly burden fund shareholders or the financial institutions that serve them.

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a series of hearings on the FCRA beginning on May 8.