As of March 31, 2001, federal regulatory and enforcement agencies had not taken any enforcement actions or prosecuted any cases under this law. Federal agencies have taken initial regulatory steps to ensure that financial institutions establish appropriate safeguards designed to protect customer information. However, they supported the legislation because it explicitly makes fraudulent access to financial information a crime. Others Suggested Few Legislative or Administrative Changes for Consideration

As stated previously, more time and experience are needed to assess the efficacy and adequacy of the remedies contained in Subtitle B regarding fraudulent access to financial information. As discussed earlier, we did not evaluate how practical these suggestions were since we found no consensus on these issues. FTC staff and some state officials suggested that states be allowed to take enforcement actions for violations of Subtitle B provisions. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

To determine the efficacy and adequacy of the remedies provided by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA) in addressing attempts to obtain financial information by false pretenses, we interviewed officials from the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
What GAO Found

This report provides information on (1) the efficacy and adequacy of remedies provided by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 in addressing attempts to obtain financial information by false pretenses and (2) suggestions for additional legislation or regulatory action to address threats to the privacy of financial information, from financial institutions. As of March 2001, federal regulatory and enforcement agencies had not taken any enforcement actions or prosecuted any cases under Subtitle B. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice are still in the process of taking steps to ensure that the financial institutions that they regulate have reasonable controls to protect against fraudulent access to financial information. Although all of the federal regulators and privacy experts whom GAO contacted agreed that more time and experience are needed to determine if Subtitle B remedies adequately address fraudulent access to financial information, FTC staff and privacy experts suggested legislative changes to Subtitle B. GAO did not evaluate the potential impact or practicality of these suggestions because it found no consensus on these ideas.