Deciphering and implementing new legislation can be a challenge even for the most seasoned of marketers. Below, we’ve summarized the key points of the Gramm Leach Bliley Act. We’ve also highlighted some of GLB’s nuances in blue (point your cursor to the words for a definition) to illustrate how important it is to understand the Act in detail.

• The Act requires financial institutions to disclose to customers their policies and practices for protecting the privacy of non-public personal information.
  
  
• The Act allows financial institutions to share personal customer information with affiliates within the holding company and, with some exceptions, non-affiliated third parties when the information is used for marketing purposes.
  
  
• The disclosure of a financial institution’s privacy policy is required to take place at the time of establishing a relationship and at least annually thereafter and would allow consumers to opt-out of information sharing arrangements with non-affiliated third parties.
  
  
• Disclosures must be provided in writing either in person or via first-class or standard mail. The disclosure may be sent via e-mail with a few provisions.