I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of great food, delightful company, and free of political discussions! As we head deeper into the holiday season, I thought I’d spread extra good cheer by sharing some news on how we’re protecting the privacy of your data:
Bank of Bozeman has currently been exempted from the recent efforts to require banks to provide your personal financial data to the government and certain authorized third parties. We are one of the few banks in the Gallatin Valley to receive this exemption.
You may be wondering, why is the government or third party organizations after my personal finance data? Governmental entities are interested in your personal banking data because they believe it will enhance financial oversight and combat illegal activities, such as tax evasion, money laundering, or fraud. Additionally, third parties have lobbied the government to get access to your data so they can more effectively market you products. Our position is that we already have oversight from the FDIC and the State Banking Commission with regard to these issues, and sharing your information more broadly within the government and to third parties increases the risk that it is leaked or misused.
There are so many benefits to working with a local, community bank, but besides the obvious perks like personalized customer service, rapid lending decisions for your personal and business banking endeavors, and maintaining all of the modern conveniences of big banks, we pride ourselves on working to protect the interests of our clients in a way some larger institutions cannot.
If you have more than one banking relationship, you may want to ask your other banking partner if they must comply with CFPB’s final rule 1033 on personal financial data rights. We appreciate the trust you place in us as your bank.
Sincerely,
Clinton Gerst
Bank President