We send our annual privacy notices to customers in the same envelope as their deposit statement. For those customers who don't have a deposit account, we send a separate mailing. We've had on-line banking for a while now, however, in just the past year we have had the capability of allowing them to accept their statement on-line and not receive a physical paper statement. Will it fulfill regulatory requirements to post a notice to anyone with on-line banking telling them that their annual privacy notice is available and where they can click to access it or would we still need to send them a physical notice? If we can't do that because not all of them have signed up for e-statements, would it be acceptable for those who have signed up for e-statements to disclose in this manner? We have also just started allowing them to sign up to receive notices electronically, but so far only Overdraft notices and one other one (I can't remember which one) are available. They can choose which ones they want to accept. They can choose to receive all or pick and choose. Anyway, which of these customers can we send the annual privacy notice to electronically and what would be the proper way to send it?

§216.3(b)(2) Definitions.
(iii) Notices on web sites. If you provide a notice on a web page, design it to call attention to the nature and significance of the information. Use text or visual cues to encourage scrolling down the page if necessary to view the entire notice and ensure that other elements on the web site (such as text, graphics, hyperlinks, or sound) do not distract attention from the notice, and you either:

(A) Place the notice on a screen that consumers frequently access, such as a page on which transactions are conducted; or

(B) Place a link on a screen that consumers frequently access, such as a page on which transactions are conducted, that connects directly to the notice and is labeled appropriately to convey the importance, nature, and relevance of the notice.

Thank you so much. Can I assume that this will fulfill the regulatory notification requirements for all of our on-line banking customers or only those that elected to get e-statements?

Lets look at §216.9(b)(1)(iii):

For the consumer who conducts transactions electronically, post the notice on the electronic site and require the consumer to acknowledge receipt of the notice as a necessary step to obtaining a particular financial product or service; or

(iv) For an isolated transaction with the consumer, such as an ATM transaction, post the notice on the ATM screen and require the consumer to acknowledge receipt of the notice as a necessary step to obtaining the particular financial product or service.

and

(c) Annual notices only. You may reasonably expect that a customer will receive actual notice of your annual privacy notice if:

(1) The customer uses your web site to access financial products and services electronically and agrees to receive notices at the web site, and you post your current privacy notice continuously in a clear and conspicuous manner on the web site; or

(2) The customer has requested that you refrain from sending any information regarding the customer relationship, and your current privacy notice remains available to the customer upon request.

So I don't read that it is restricted to those getting statements, but using that authority is your safest bet. You could have others agree to receipt this way, but I don't know how common that would be.

Thanks alot!!