Joint Trades Letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the Request for Information on Data Privacy

Chairman Guthrie and Vice Chairman Joyce, we appreciate the opportunity to respond to the Committee and the Data Privacy Working Group's Request for Information on the parameters for a federal, comprehensive data privacy and security framework.

Our members have been, and continue to be, strong proponents for the protection of consumer data and privacy. Unlike many other businesses, our members consider the protection of consumer financial data to be a cornerstone of their business. This commitment to the protection of consumer financial data predates when Congress first began enacting data privacy laws in the 1970s, with the enactment of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA") and the Right to Financial Privacy Act ("RFPA"). Our members have been subject to extensive federal privacy and data protection laws and regulations for almost half a century. We support privacy and data security protections for consumer data for other companies who have not been subject to robust laws and oversight on the protection of consumer data.

Summary

Our organizations support legislation to protect consumer privacy that:

• Establishes a national privacy standard that recognizes that strong privacy and data security standards are already in place for financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLBA") and other financial privacy laws and avoid provisions that duplicate or are inconsistent with those existing laws.
• Eliminates the current inconsistent patchwork of state privacy, data security, and Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) laws. A national standard containing these elements would provide consistent protection for consumers regardless of where they may live;
• Provides robust, exclusive enforcement of this national standard by the appropriate federal or state regulators, including preserving GLBA's existing administrative enforcement structure for financial institutions; and
• Consistent with the recommendation of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence,1 recognizes the risk management framework set by federal banking regulators for AI that are already in place for banks and credit unions, as well as the relevant associated examination of banks and credit unions by their federal prudential regulators for compliance with such requirements, avoiding any duplicate or inconsistent regulation.

Download the joint trades letter to read the full text.