Bush backs banks' appeal of state's financial privacy law
DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
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(08-11) 17:38 PDT SACRAMENTO (AP) --
The Bush administration stepped into a lawsuit challenging California's landmark financial privacy law Wednesday, urging a federal judge to side with banks that want to overturn restrictions on how they can share customer information.
The new state law requires financial institutions to get permission from customers before giving nonaffiliated companies customers' financial information such as their bank balance or spending habits.
Three trade associations sued last month over a provision that lets customers also block the sale of financial information to affiliated companies that are not in the same line of business, such as a bank that wants to share with a sister insurance company owned by the same parent corporation.
A federal judge in Sacramento upheld the law last month, but the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable and the Consumer Bankers Association are appealing.
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