The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) of 1999 allowed banks, brokerages, and insurance companies to merge but included provisions to protect individual privacy. Title V of the GLBA established rules regarding the collection and disclosure of personal financial information, requiring companies to provide privacy notices and security plans to protect data. It also prohibited fraudulent access to financial data through tactics like fake emails or identities. The GLBA was passed during discussions sparked by a representative who received unwanted mail, concerned about privacy of his financial information.

1. The Not-so-Sexy Topic of
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Data
Presented By:

2. What is the GLBA?
 Passed in 1999, it allowed banks, brokerages, and
insurance companies to legally merge.
 But legislators placed stipulations on the Act prior to
passage on November 12, 1999
 These primary restrictions found under Title V focused
on individual privacy rights

3. Three main parts to Title V of GLBA:
1. The Financial Privacy Rule
2. The Safeguards Rule
3. Pretexting Provisions

4. The Financial Privacy Rule:
1. Regulates collection and disclosure of a customer’s
personal financial information
2. Consumers must be provided with a privacy notice
3. Must be an opt-out provision for Fair Credit
Reporting Act
4. Rules apply to companies receiving the information
such as IRBsearch and you as an IRBsearch
customer

5. The Safeguards Rule:
1. A security plan must be in place to protect
consumer information
2. A designated employee must be in charge of
safeguards
3. Risk management programs must be
developed, tested, and monitored with regular
department assessments

6. Pretexting Provisions:
1. Prohibits fraudulent access to financial
information
2. No one is allowed access to a consumer’s
financial information without proper authority
3. Prohibits use of phony emails, websites, or mail
accounts.

7. How GLBA Came Into Play
 It all started when U.S. Representative Joe Barton (R-TX6)
received a Victoria’s Secret catalogue
 Barton claimed that he, nor his wife, ordered the
catalogue, and was worried that his credit union had
given his private information to a third party
 It just so happens that this whole ordeal came to
fruition at the same time of as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Act was being fine-tuned.

8. What It Means To You
 In short, Title V of the GLBA prohibits just anyone from
accessing certain undisclosed material about an
individual.
 This information can include: aliases, current and previous
addresses, date of birth, a social security number, and credit
header data.
 Professional investigators were granted the ability –
with proper documentation and permitted uses – to
access this protected information.
 Whenever an IRBsearch customer accesses the IRBsearch
database, the data delivered is of a higher quality, more
accurate, and more up-to-date.

9. Getting the Most with IRBsearch
 Remember, not all databases are GLBA compliant!
 Upon logging into a GLBA database, the investigator
must select a valid purpose for research. The selections
available generally mirror the specific exceptions
contained in the privacy amendment.
 IRBsearch offers a myriad of searches, reports, and
value-added features to help you get the best
information possible!

11. • IRBsearch cannot legally tell you which permitted
use to choose.
• It is important to choose the right option, as each
choice will bring back unique results.

12. It may not be the sexiest topic of the
twenty-first century, but as
Representative Barton discovered, GLBA
data can make a world of difference in
locating your subject—whether you are
the one being discovered, or the one
doing the researching!