§ 261.21 - Confidential supervisory information made available to supervised financial institutions.

§ 261.21 Confidential supervisory information made available to law enforcement agencies and other nonfinancial institution supervisory agenciessupervised financial institutions.

(a) Disclosure upon request. Upon written request, the Board may make available to appropriate law enforcement agencies and to other nonfinancial institution supervisory agencies for use where necessary in the performance of official duties, reports of examination and inspection, confidential supervisory information, and other confidential documents and information of the Board concerning banks, bank holding companies and their subsidiaries, U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, savings and loan holding companies and their subsidiaries, and other examined institutions.

(b) Eligibility. Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and other nonfinancial institution supervisory agencies may file written requests with the Board for access to confidential documents and information under this section of the regulation. Properly accredited foreign law enforcement agencies and other foreign government agencies may also file written requests with the Board.

(c) Contents of request. To obtain access to confidential documents or information under this section of the regulation, the head of the law enforcement agency or nonfinancial institution supervisory agency (or their designees) shall address a letter request to the Board's General Counsel, specifying:

(1) The particular information, kinds of information, and where possible, the particular documents to which access is sought;

(2) The reasons why such information cannot be obtained from the examined institution in question rather than from the Board;

(3) A statement of the law enforcement purpose or other purpose for which the information shall be used;

(4) Whether the requested disclosure is permitted or restricted in any way by applicable law or regulation;

(5) A commitment that the information requested shall not be disclosed to any person outside the agency without the written permission of the Board or its General Counsel; and

(6) If the document or information requested includes customer account information subject to the Right to Financial Privacy Act, as amended (12 U.S.C. 3401 et seq.), a statement that such customer account information need not be provided, or a statement as to why the Act does not apply to the request, or a certification that the requesting agency has complied with the requirements of the Act.

(d) Action on request.

(1) The General Counsel shall review each request and may approve the request upon determining that:

(i) The request complies with this section;

(ii) The information is needed in connection with a formal investigation or other official duties of the requesting agency;

(iii) Satisfactory assurances of confidentiality have been given; and

(iv) No law prohibits the requested disclosure.

(2) The General Counsel may impose any conditions or limitations on disclosure that the General Counsel determines to be necessary to effect the purposes of this regulation or to insure compliance with applicable laws or regulations.

(e) Federal and state grand jury, criminal trial, and government administrative subpoenas. The Board's General Counsel shall review and may approve the disclosure of confidential information pursuant to Federal and state grand jury, criminal trial, and government administrative subpoenas. The General Counsel may impose such conditions or limitations on disclosure under this section that the General Counsel determines are necessary to effect the purposes of this regulation, to insure compliance with applicable laws or regulations, or to protect the confidentiality of the Board's information.

(f) Requests for testimony or interviews. Government agencies seeking to obtain testimony or interviews from current and former Federal Reserve System staff concerning any confidential information of the Board shall use the procedures set out in paragraph (c) of this section.

(g) Other disclosure prohibited. All reports and information made available under this section remain the property of the Board, and except as otherwise provided in this regulation, no person, agency, or authority to whom the information is made available, or any officer, director, or employee thereof, may disclose any such information except in published statistical material that does not disclose, either directly or when used in conjunction with publicly available information, the affairs of any individual or corporation.

[53 FR 20815, June 7, 1988. Redesignated at 62 FR 54359, Oct. 20, 1997, as amended at 76 FR 56601, Sept. 13, 2011]

of confidential supervisory information to supervised financial institutions. The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank may disclose confidential supervisory information concerning a supervised financial institution to that supervised financial institution.

(b) Disclosure of confidential supervisory information by supervised financial institutions -

(1) General. Any supervised financial institution lawfully in possession of confidential supervisory information pursuant to this section may when necessary or appropriate for business purposes disclose such information to its directors, officers, or employees, and to the directors, officers, or employees of its affiliates.

(2) Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, and State financial supervisory agencies. Any supervised financial institution may, with the concurrence of the institution's central point of contact at the Reserve Bank, equivalent supervisory team leader, or other designated Reserve Bank employee (hereinafter, “Reserve Bank Point of Contact” or “Reserve Bank POC”), disclose confidential supervisory information about the institution that is contained in documents prepared by or for the institution for its own business purposes to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, and the State financial supervisory agency that supervises that institution when the Reserve Bank POC determines that the receiving agency has a legitimate supervisory or regulatory interest in the information. A Reserve Bank POC's action under this paragraph may require concurrence of other Federal Reserve staff in accordance with internal supervisory procedures. Requests to disclose any other confidential supervisory information to these or other agencies should be directed to the General Counsel under § 261.22(c) or § 261.23(c).

(3) Legal counsel and auditors. When necessary or appropriate in connection with the provision of legal or auditing services to the supervised financial institution, the supervised financial institution may disclose confidential supervisory information to its legal counsel or auditors. The supervised financial institution may also disclose confidential supervisory information to service providers (such as consultants, contractors, contingent workers, and technology providers) of its legal counsel or auditors if the service provider is under a written agreement with the legal counsel or auditor in which the service provider agrees that:

(i) It will treat the confidential supervisory information in accordance with § 261.20(a); and

(ii) It will not use the confidential supervisory information for any purpose other than as necessary to provide the services to the supervised financial institution.

(4) Other service providers.

(i) A supervised financial institution may disclose confidential supervisory information to other service providers engaged by the supervised financial institution if the service provider is under a written contract to provide services to the institution, the disclosure of the confidential supervisory information is deemed necessary to the service provider's provision of services, and the service provider has a written agreement with the institution in which the service provider has agreed that:

(A) It will treat the confidential supervisory information in accordance with § 261.20(a); and

(B) It will not use the confidential supervisory information for any purpose other than as provided under its contract to provide services to the supervised financial institution.

(ii) A supervised financial institution shall maintain a written account of the disclosures of confidential supervisory information that the supervised financial institution makes to service providers under this section and provide the Board or Reserve Bank with a copy of such written account upon the Board's or Reserve Bank's request.