CFPB report on carve-outs for financial institutions in state data-privacy laws

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a report examining federal and state-level privacy protections for consumers’ financial data. The report notes that protections under federal regulations for financial data have limits. Yet, many new state data privacy protections exempt financial institutions and consumer financial data covered by federal law, even though states generally have authority to go beyond the federal rules. As a result, in many states, privacy protections for financial information now lag behind safeguards in other sectors of the economy. The report explores whether consumer financial data is sufficiently protected, given new business models from banks and other financial institutions that make money from the use of this data, such as by creating advertising or marketing businesses. The CFPB’s press release and a link to the report are here.