The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act has swept away many restrictions

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act has placed Schwartz & Ballen in the leadership role of providing indispensable information and legal guidance to affected financial institutions. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act swept away the remaining restrictions that prevented the affiliation of banking, insurance and securities firms. As a result, financial holding companies may engage in any financial activity, including merchant banking, with a minimum of regulatory scrutiny.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act also included landmark privacy provisions to protect nonpublic personal information of consumers. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires a financial institution to provide customers each year with a copy of its privacy policies and, if applicable, the opportunity to instruct the institution not to share the consumer's nonpublic personal information with nonaffiliated third parties ("opt out").

Partner Gilbert Schwartz is one of the country's leading experts on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

In addition to playing an active role in the Congressional proceedings that led to the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley legislation, Schwartz has helped shape the implementing regulations adopted by federal and state agencies.

Schwartz has extensive experience and expertise in advising financial institutions in understanding and complying with the rules promulgated by regulatory agencies such as the Federal Reserve and the Comptroller of the Currency. He and Partner Fox review the annual privacy notices of financial institutions to ensure that they meet the legal requirements, regulations and guidelines of the federal and state supervisory agencies charged with responsibility for enforcement. Schwartz assists financial institutions in determining if programs offered by them or their affiliates are subject to the new requirements.

Schwartz also monitors proposed state legislation and regulations that expand on the privacy provisions of this law and provides analysis of the impact of such proposals on banks, insurance companies, securities firms and other financial institutions.

Schwartz & Ballen assists numerous financial institutions with the development of policies and practices that comply with the privacy provisions of new legislation, including the drafting of privacy statements and notices. We also advise on the effects of pending and enacted legislation in areas such as do not call lists, online privacy and anti-spam proposals. We are active commenters on proposed regulations relating to the recent extension of provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The Schwartz & Ballen web site contains analytical information as well as the original text

In addition to the implementing regulations of the federal financial institution regulators, the site contains analyses of such topics as agency guidance on the regulations and on response programs to protect against identity theft, information sharing practices, regulations states must now adopt, pre-emption of state laws and the regulations required by this and the California Financial Information Privacy Act.

The Schwartz & Ballen web site provides succinct analyses of laws and regulations that affect financial institutions (banks, thrifts, bank holding companies, savings and loan associations, credit unions) in addition to providing the text of significant new laws and regulations. While major emphasis is placed on federal laws and regulation, significant state actions are also covered as are important court cases. The analyses are grouped by areas of expertise - privacy, money laundering, Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Thrift Supervision, Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Partners Schwartz, Ballen and Fox have over 50 years of experience in providing legal guidance to the financial services industry and in addressing laws and regulations that govern how financial institutions do business.

Learn the latest on the Privacy Laws from Schwartz & Ballen.