Two Thirds of Banks Don’t Meet Privacy Policy Act

Some 67% of U.S. banks’ online privacy policies do not meet the requirement of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act because they do not disclose what types of personal information they collect from consumers, a PricewaterhouseCoopers’ survey has found.

The survey also found that:

* more than two thirds of the sites do not disclose what information they share with affiliates and nonaffiliated third parties, such as direct marketers

* only 9% of sites disclosed categories and examples of the parties with whom non-public personal information is shared

* none of the sites disclosed their practices with respect to nonpublic personal information of former customers

* none of the sites disclose their policies regarding former customers

* of the 34 sites that state that they disclose information with third parties, fewer than half (14 sites) disclose consumers’ right to opt out and the means to do so

PricewaterhouseCoopers reviewed banks included in the Top 100+ U.S. bank and Thrift Companies. It surveyed the top 50 banks that had significant online consumer banking capabilities.