Stockholder Information and Privacy
Mary Beth Guard, BOL Guru Guru Bio
QUESTION: Currently our holding company bylaws allow us to give each stockholder a list of all the stockholders. Included in this list is the stockholder's social security number, number of shares owned, and the last dividend payment that they received. My question is, can we still give this information to anybody who asks for it? G-L-B is still confusing to me in the area of holding companies.
ANSWER: When an individual purchases stock in your institution they are not deemed to be obtaining a "financial product or service" from your institution and would therefore not be deemed either a customer or a consumer of your institution. They would not be covered under the GLB privacy protections simply as a result of owning stock. (Of course, to the extent a stockholder is also an accountholder, borrower, etc., they would be a "customer" for those purposes.)
Even though GLB would not apply, that does not mean the information you described would automatically be public information, accessible to anyone who asks for it. Since your bylaws allow stockholders to be given a list of all the stockholders, you may continue to provide this information. However, it sounds like your list contains some sensitive information, since it reflects social security numbers. Read your bylaws carefully to see if the list that is required to be provided must include those numbers. If not, you may want to consider removing that data from the list before you disseminate it to other stockholders. It is prudent in this environment for institutions to look at the privacy implications of all their practices and procedures - even those not covered directly by GLB.
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