The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act imposes restrictions on the ability of financial institutions to disclose non-public personal information about consumers to nonaffiliated third parties and requires financial institutions to provide privacy notices to consumers.
Entities subject to the CFTC’s jurisdiction became subject to the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act when Congress enacted the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA). The CFMA amended the Commodity Exchange Act by adding a new section on privacy to the Commodity Exchange Act, Section 5g, 7 USC 7b-2.
The CFTC adopted rules, 17 CFR Part 160, implementing the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act on April 27, 2001. Futures commission merchants, commodity trading advisors, commodity pool operators, and introducing brokers were required to comply with those rules by March 31, 2002.
Privacy rules have been adopted by:
CFTC staff issued interpretative guidance to assist firms in complying with the privacy rules:
How to provide effective financial privacy notices was discussed at an interagency workshop in 2001 at the Federal Trade Commission. Transcripts, audio, and other workshop materials are available at Get Noticed: Effective Financial Privacy Notices.
Resources available to help individuals understand their rights to financial privacy include