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Privacy and Security Obligations of Banks and Financial Institutions: An Overview of Federal Requirements

By Mark E. Plotkin and B.J. Sanford
September 20, 2005

Businesses and regulators alike are re-evaluating policies, procedures, and systems for protecting private data in light of recent high-profile security breaches. In addition to increased scrutiny from the public at large, financial institutions face a growing body of law addressing the privacy and security of customer data.

Federal, state, and foreign legislators and regulators have contributed to that growing body of law. State and foreign initiatives have received considerable attention. California, for example, created a stir in 2002 by passing SB 1386, which requires any company that stores customer data electronically to notify its California customers of security breaches that affect those customers' personal information. Cal. Civ. Code '1798.82. Less recent but no less prominent, Directive 95/46/EC of the European Union set forth a wide range of privacy and security principles affecting businesses operating in the EU member states and has now been implemented, with variations, by every member state. Council Directive 95/46/EC 1995 O.J. (L 281); see also European Commission, Data Protection, at http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/fsj/privacy/index_en.htm. This article focuses on federal sources of data security obligations for financial institutions, which have received less recent attention than state and foreign sources.

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