Lawmakers have passed a provision as part of the sweeping Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006, that exempts CPAs from the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act’s requirement that they send clients an annual privacy notice.
Last week the House and Senate passed the bill, which now awaits the president’s signature.
The American Institute of CPAs contended that the GLB privacy provision was redundant, citing that CPAs are licensed by state boards of accountancy and are already subject to state laws and regulations that prohibit disclosure of nonpublic personal information without the expressed consent of the client.
The AICPA said it worked with House lawmakers Mark Kennedy, R-Minn., and Colin Peterson, D-Minn., and Senators Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
The act, which affects both financial institutions and their regulators, would allow the Federal Reserve System to pay interest on certain reserve balances of depository institutions that are held on deposit at the Federal Reserve, and gives the Fed’s Board of Governors greater flexibility in setting reserve requirements.
