Final Rule Analysis: Revisions to Regulation S – Reimbursement to Financial Institutions for Providing Records

CUNA
November 2, 2009 | COMMENTS

The Federal Reserve Board (Fed) has amended Regulation S, the Right to Financial Privacy Act, which determines the rates and conditions in which a government agency must reimburse a financial institution for costs incurred in producing consumer financial records. These amendments update the fees that may be charged by financial institutions and incorporates recent advances in electronic document productions. The amendments also clarify that reimbursement is available for all agency requests, in addition to those received by court order or subpoena.

The personnel fees that may be charged for searching and processing document requests are increased substantially. Here are the new fees, which are hourly rates:

• Clerical/Technical - $22
• Computer Support Specialist - $30
• Manager/Supervisor - $30

Financial institutions will be allowed to continue charging $.25 per page for photocopying and $.50 per microfiche duplicate.

Reimbursement will be provided for the actual acquisition price to the financial institution of the storage medium used to transmit the data, such as the CD, flash storage device, etc. No fixed reimbursement will be provided for transmittals made by email, except for personnel and other identified costs related to making email transmissions.

The amendments will implement a mechanism to periodically update these reimbursement rates, based on changes in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey data. An equivalent source of data, if necessary, may also be used, which was requested by CUNA in an earlier comment letter. These would be adjusted every three years, beginning September 30, 2012.

Financial institutions may continue to request reimbursement for photocopies at the existing rate of 25-cents per page, although the fee may only be charged if the institution is reproducing information that is already stored in paper form or if the agency making the request has specifically requested printed copies of information that is stored electronically. This is intended to encourage electronic submissions, which is what many agencies now prefer.

These changes will be effective as of January 1, 2010.

If you have any questions or need a copy of the final rule, please feel free to contact Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel Mary Dunn at mdunn@cuna.com or Senior Assistant General Counsel Jeff Bloch at jbloch@cuna.com or by telephone at (800) 356-9655, extension 6736 or 6732. You may also access the rule here.