GUIDANCE ON PROTECTION OF CUSTOMER FINANCIAL INFORMATION AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT.The Federal Reserve Board announced on April 30, 2001, the issuance of supervisory guidance addressing how banking organizations should protect customer information against identity theft. Recommended steps to safeguard information include establishing procedures to verify the identity of individuals applying for financial products, to prevent fraudulent address changes, and to block pretext PRETEXT. The reasons assigned to justify an act, which have only the appearance of truth, and which are without foundation; or which if true are not the true reasons for such act. Vattel, liv. 3, c. 3, 32. callers from using personal information to impersonate im·per·son·ate tr.v. im·per·son·at·ed, im·per·son·at·ing, im·per·son·ates 1. To assume the character or appearance of, especially fraudulently: impersonate a police officer. 2. account holders and gain access to account information. Guidance is also provided to banking organizations on completing Suspicious Activity Reports A Suspicious Activity Report (or SAR) is a report regarding suspicious or potentially suspicious activity, filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. for reporting offenses associated with identity theft and pretext calling that are filed with law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe any agency which enforces the law. This may be a local or state police, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). . The guidance is consistent with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, Pub. L. No. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338 (November 12, 1999), is an Act of the United States Congress which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, opening up competition , which directs the Board and other federal agencies to ensure that financial institutions have policies, procedures, and controls in place to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of customer financial information and to deter and detect fraudulent access to such information. Supervision and Regulation (SR) Letters are the Federal Reserve's primary means of communicating key policy directives to its examiners, supervisory staff, and the banking industry. The guidance is contained in SR Letter 01-11, Identity Theft and Pretext Calling, which can be accessed on the Board's web site at www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/srletters |
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