A financial services industry official went to Congress earlier this week to attack a recent federal court ruling that upheld California's strict privacy laws.[@@]
If the ruling is sustained, it will give states the authority to establish patchwork financial standards "contrary to the clear intent of Congress for national, uniform standards for cross-marketing of financial products by financial services companies," according to a written version of testimony delivered by Steve Bartlett, president of the Financial Services Roundtable, Washington.
Bartlett, whose group represents companies in all sectors of the financial services industry, spoke before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday.
Bartlett did not give a clear statement about whether his group was asking Congress to pass a law this year specifically establishing a national, uniform privacy law. Congress thought it was doing that last year when it amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Bartlett's testimony was the first official industry reaction to a ruling from the U.S. District Court in Sacramento, Calif., that found that the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act does not preempt California's restrictions on financial services company affiliates' moves to share customer data.
