GLBA
You might not think about it much, but in the modern age, privacy is in some ways at a premium. Many people don’t think about their privacy very often, which is in some ways quite a shame. Privacy is an incredibly crucial thing, and it’s even more crucial when it comes to especially sensitive information like the information that one might give to their bank.
This is exactly why the financial industry is one of the most important industries that has specific legal requirements for privacy. Over the years, the financial industry has had to have many different legal requirements placed on it, and some of these legal requirements have to do with privacy. If you’re dealing with financial institutions today, you’ll end up gaining some protection from certain legal requirements.
What Is the GLBA?
The GLBA, which stands for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, is one of the most important provisions to make sure that financial privacy is an important part of everyday life for individuals. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which the United States passed on November 12, 1999, requires the Federal Trade Commission to regulate certain provisions that regard financial privacy, and it essentially reformed the financial services industry entirely. Among the most important provisions is a variety of provisions that have to do with privacy for financial services.
Who Has to Follow the GLBA?
According to the act itself, the privacy rules in the GLBA are for a variety of financial institutions, defined as institutions that do any number of things for their customers. If an organization has a hand in any of these, it has to follow the GLBA:
- Lending money
- Exchanging money
- Transferring money
- Investing money for others
- Safeguarding money or securities
- Providing advisory services
- Brokering and servicing loans
- Debt collecting
- Providing real estate settlement services
- Offering career counseling
That’s a lot of things, and it’s important because it’s a relatively wide-reaching proposition. The GLBA essentially allows consumers to take control over their own information through a number of different organizations.
What Rights Does the GLBA Provide?
The GLBA specifically provides certain rights to consumers that businesses in the financial industry have to follow, or those businesses run the risk of having to face fines and other punishments from the FTC. Businesses have to provide their consumers with all of the following:
- Information about policies
- A chance to opt-out
- Ways to manage their financial information
- Better financial privacy
Essentially, customers have to get information about the policies their financial institution follows, as well as how they can opt-out of certain information-sharing practices. Even if these practices are the default, the financial institution has to allow them to opt-out if that’s what they want to do.
How Can Enformion Help Companies While Still Conforming to the GLBA?
One of the best tools any company can have is more information. Essentially, the more information you have, the easier it is to run your business. Conforming to the GLBA doesn’t require that you collect less data on your customers unless they ask it. That means you can often use Enformion to get more information about your customers; you just have to make sure you have a process in place to get rid of it if your customers ask.