Union Calendar No. 430
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4321
[Report No. 105–701, Parts I and II]
A BILL
To protect consumers and financial institutions by
preventing personal financial information from
being obtained from financial institutions under
false pretenses.
SEPTEMBER 25, 1998
Reported from the Committee on Commerce with an
amendment
SEPTEMBER 25, 1998
The Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed
to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of
the Union and ordered to be printed
IB
Union Calendar No. 430
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4321
[Report No. 105–701, Parts I and II]
To protect consumers and financial institutions by preventing personal finan-
cial information from being obtained from financial institutions under
false pretenses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 23, 1998
Mr. LEACH (for himself, Mr. LAZIO of New York, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. LAFALCE,
Mr. HINCHEY, and Mr. VENTO) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services
AUGUST 21, 1998
Reported with an amendment, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary for
a period ending not later than September 25, 1998, for consideration of
such provisions of the bill and amendment as fall within the jurisdiction
of that committee pursuant to clause 1(j), rule X
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
SEPTEMBER 14, 1998
Referred to the Committee on Commerce for a period ending not later than
September 25, 1998, for consideration of such provisions of the bill and
amendment as fall within the jurisdiction of that committee pursuant to
clause 1(e), rule X
SEPTEMBER 25, 1998
Additional sponsors: Mrs. KELLY, Ms. DANNER, and Mrs. ROUKEMA
SEPTEMBER 25, 1998
Reported from the Committee on Commerce with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in boldface roman]
SEPTEMBER 25, 1998
The Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed to the Committee of
the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 23, 1998]
A BILL
To protect consumers and financial institutions by preventing
personal financial information from being obtained from
financial institutions under false pretenses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Financial Information
Privacy Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. FINANCIAL INFORMATION PRIVACY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Consumer Credit Protection
Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the
end the following:
‘‘TITLE X—FINANCIAL INFORMATION PRIVACY
PROTECTION
‘‘Sec.
‘‘1001. Short title.
‘‘1002. Definitions.
‘‘1003. Privacy protection for customer information of financial institutions.
‘‘1004. Administrative enforcement.
‘‘1005. Civil liability.
‘‘1006. Criminal penalty.
‘‘1007. Relation to State laws.
‘‘1008. Agency guidance.
‘‘§ 1001. Short title
‘‘This title may be cited as the ‘Financial Information
Privacy Act’.
‘‘§ 1002. Definitions
‘‘For purposes of this title, the following definitions
shall apply:
‘‘(1) CUSTOMER.—The term ‘customer’ means,
with respect to a financial institution, any person (or
authorized representative of a person) to whom the fi-
nancial institution provides a product or service, in-
cluding that of acting as a fiduciary.
‘‘(2) CUSTOMER INFORMATION OF A FINANCIAL
INSTITUTION.—The term ‘customer information of a
financial institution’ means any information main-
tained by a financial institution which is derived
from the relationship between the financial institution
and a customer of the financial institution and is
identified with the customer.
‘‘(3) DOCUMENT.—The term ‘document’ means
any information in any form.
‘‘(4) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘financial in-
stitution’ means any institution engaged in the
business of providing financial services to cus-
tomers who maintain a credit, deposit, trust, or
other financial account or relationship with the
institution.
‘‘(B) CERTAIN
FINANCIAL
INSTITUTIONS
SPECIFICALLY
INCLUDED.—The term ‘financial
institution’ includes any depository institution
(as defined in section 19(b)(1)(A) of the Federal
Reserve Act), any loan or finance company, any
credit card issuer or operator of a credit card
system, and any consumer reporting agency that
compiles and maintains files on consumers on a
nationwide basis (as defined in section 603(p)).
‘‘(C) FURTHER
DEFINITION
BY
REGULA-
TION.—The Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System may prescribe regulations fur-
ther defining the term ‘financial institution’, in
accordance with subparagraph (A), for purposes
of this title.
‘‘§ 1003. Privacy protection for customer information
of financial institutions
‘‘(a) PROHIBITION ON OBTAINING CUSTOMER INFOR-
MATION BY FALSE PRETENSES.—It shall be a violation of
this title for any person to obtain or attempt to obtain, or
cause to be disclosed or attempt to cause to be disclosed to
any person, customer information of a financial institution
relating to another person—
‘‘(1) by knowingly making a false, fictitious, or
fraudulent statement or representation to an officer,
employee, or agent of a financial institution with the
intent to deceive the officer, employee, or agent into
relying on that statement or representation for pur-
poses of releasing the customer information;
‘‘(2) by knowingly making a false, fictitious, or
fraudulent statement or representation to a customer
of a financial institution with the intent to deceive
the customer into relying on that statement or rep-
resentation for purposes of releasing the customer in-
formation or authorizing the release of such informa-
tion; or
‘‘(3) by knowingly providing any document to
an officer, employee, or agent of a financial institu-
tion, knowing that the document is forged, counterfeit,
lost, or stolen, was fraudulently obtained, or contains
a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or represen-
tation, if the document is provided with the intent to
deceive the officer, employee, or agent into relying on
that document for purposes of releasing the customer
information.
‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION OF A PERSON TO
OBTAIN CUSTOMER INFORMATION FROM FINANCIAL INSTI-
TUTION UNDER FALSE PRETENSES.—It shall be a violation
of this title to request a person to obtain customer informa-
tion of a financial institution, knowing or consciously
avoiding knowing that the person will obtain, or attempt
to obtain, the information from the institution in any man-
ner described in subsection (a).
‘‘(c) NONAPPLICABILITY
TO
LAW
ENFORCEMENT
AGENCIES.—No provision of this section shall be construed
so as to prevent any action by a law enforcement agency,
or any officer, employee, or agent of such agency, to obtain
customer information of a financial institution in connec-
tion with the performance of the official duties of the agen-
cy.
‘‘(d) NONAPPLICABILITY TO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
IN CERTAIN CASES.—No provision of this section shall be
construed so as to prevent any financial institution, or any
officer, employee, or agent of a financial institution, from
obtaining customer information of such financial institu-
tion in the course of—
‘‘(1) testing the security procedures or systems of
such institution for maintaining the confidentiality of
customer information;
‘‘(2) investigating allegations of misconduct or
negligence on the part of any officer, employee, or
agent of the financial institution; or
‘‘(3) recovering customer information of the fi-
nancial institution which was obtained or received by
another person in any manner described in subsection
(a) or (b).
‘‘(e) NONAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN TYPES OF CUS-
TOMER INFORMATION OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.—No
provision of this section shall be construed so as to prevent
any person from obtaining customer information of a fi-
nancial institution that otherwise is available as a public
record filed pursuant to the securities laws (as defined in
section 3(a)(47) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934).
‘‘§ 1004. Administrative enforcement
‘‘(a) ENFORCEMENT
BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS-
SION.—Except as provided in subsection (b), compliance
with this title shall be enforced by the Federal Trade Com-
mission in the same manner and with the same power and
authority as the Commission has under the title VIII, the
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, to enforce compliance
with such title.
‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT BY OTHER AGENCIES IN CERTAIN
CASES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Compliance with this title
shall be enforced under—
‘‘(A) section 8 of the Federal Deposit Insur-
ance Act, in the case of—
‘‘(i) national banks, and Federal
branches and Federal agencies of foreign
banks, by the Office of the Comptroller of
the Currency;