U.S. banks have been given an extension on when they have to comply with new consumer privacy-protection rules.
The boards of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. decided yesterday to give the banks until July 1, 2001, to comply with privacy regulations mandated by last year's financial services overhaul law permitting mergers among banks, insurers and securities firms.
The consumer protections include a right to block any transfer of personal information outside of a company, aside from formal joint marketing ventures. Banks also must draft privacy policies and disclose them to customers.
Congress called for the privacy protections to go into effect one year after President Clinton signed them into law on Nov. 12, but the National Credit Union Administration, and other agencies, pushed back the date by which credit unions must comply to July 1, 2001.
