Risks & Rules COMPLIANCE CORNER Focus: The Right to Financial Privacy Act What community bankers need to know about protecting and disclosing customers' fi nancial records. By Mary Thorson Wright I f you defi ne " privacy " as " the state of being free from public attention, " then the title of the Right to Financial Privacy Act (RFPA) sounds like a customer's fi nancial records are absolutely protected from disclosure. While there are privacy and confi dentiality rules community banks must observe, the RFPA limits the audience and process for fi nancial records' disclosure but does not offer carte blanche coverage. What are the rules, and how are they different? The RFPA was enacted in 1978 and covers requests for fi nancial records that fi nancial institutions receive from a federal government authority. It defi nes " government authority " as any agency or department of the United States, or any offi cer, employee or agent thereof. It defi nes " fi nancial record " as an original of, a copy of, or information known to have 76 ICBA Independent Banker March 2018 been derived from any record held by a fi nancial institution pertaining to a customer's relationship with the fi nancial institution. The RFPA requires that: » a customer receives notice before fi nancial institutions disclose the customer's fi nancial records to the government » a customer has a right to challenge the release of his or her fi nancial records to the government