Vendor Confidentiality Agreements

This is becoming a difficult topic to cover - be sure to work with your banks legal counsel when developing agreements with any third-parties. Confidentiality agreements help to enforce the importance of proprietary information (e.g. non public personal information). However, the regulators are placing more emphasis on securing customer information and notifying customers when their information has been compromised.

It is not uncommon to read about businesses that have laptops stolen or back-up tapes lost during transportation which contained confidential information on thousands of bank customers. Be sure your agreement includes steps vendors must follow when your confidential information has been breached so you can take the proper steps to (1) notify the affected customers, and (2) prevent additional loss of information in the future.

First published on BankersOnline.com 9/18/06