Customers may still invoke a privacy shield under opt-out. If you do nothing, your financial institution will continue to handle your financial information as before. This allows banks to continue to use the information to conduct loan reviews, arrange for printing of checks by outside vendors and engage in other routine business operations. Financial institutions rely on integrated information systems to operate more efficiently on behalf of their customers, thus avoiding the cost of maintaining duplicate systems. Allowing customers to opt out, versus requiring them to opt in to information sharing, is far more practical and efficient and makes better business sense for both the institution and the customer.
Most consumers trust financial institutions to manage their information responsibly.
As the figure shows, a 1999 IBM study found that Americans think financial companies and health care companies do the best job of protecting customer information. They rated banks ahead of charities, retailers and governments. A more recent Gallup study found that on the trust question, banks rate higher than all other financial institutions, including finance and insurance companies, online brokerages, stock brokerages, mortgage firms and mutual fund companies. And financial institutions must follow federal regulatory guidelines to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer records, protect against any threats to that security and prevent unauthorized access to such records. Responsible information-sharing allows a financial institution to recognize and respond to the individual needs of its customers, provide new product and service information, add competition and keep prices low.