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. For the purposes of this division:
(a) "Nonpublic personal information" means personally identifiable
financial information (1) provided by a consumer to a financial
institution, (2) resulting from any transaction with the consumer or
any service performed for the consumer, or (3) otherwise obtained by
the financial institution. Nonpublic personal information does not
include publicly available information that the financial institution
has a reasonable basis to believe is lawfully made available to the
general public from (1) federal, state, or local government records,
(2) widely distributed media, or (3) disclosures to the general
public that are required to be made by federal, state, or local law.
Nonpublic personal information shall include any list, description,
or other grouping of consumers, and publicly available information
pertaining to them, that is derived using any nonpublic personal
information other than publicly available information, but shall not
include any list, description, or other grouping of consumers, and
publicly available information pertaining to them, that is derived
without using any nonpublic personal information.
(b) "Personally identifiable financial information" means
information (1) that a consumer provides to a financial institution
to obtain a product or service from the financial institution, (2)
about a consumer resulting from any transaction involving a product
or service between the financial institution and a consumer, or (3)
that the financial institution otherwise obtains about a consumer in
connection with providing a product or service to that consumer. Any
personally identifiable information is financial if it was obtained
by a financial institution in connection with providing a financial
product or service to a consumer. Personally identifiable financial
information includes all of the following:
(1) Information a consumer provides to a financial institution on
an application to obtain a loan, credit card, or other financial
product or service.
(2) Account balance information, payment history, overdraft
history, and credit or debit card purchase information.
(3) The fact that an individual is or has been a consumer of a
financial institution or has obtained a financial product or service
from a financial institution.
(4) Any information about a financial institution's consumer if it
is disclosed in a manner that indicates that the individual is or
has been the financial institution's consumer.
(5) Any information that a consumer provides to a financial
institution or that a financial institution or its agent otherwise
obtains in connection with collecting on a loan or servicing a loan.
(6) Any personally identifiable financial information collected
through an Internet cookie or an information collecting device from a
Web server.
(7) Information from a consumer report.
(c) "Financial institution" means any institution the business of
which is engaging in financial activities as described in Section
1843(k) of Title 12 of the United States Code and doing business in
this state. An institution that is not significantly engaged in
financial activities is not a financial institution. The term
"financial institution" does not include any institution that is
primarily engaged in providing hardware, software, or interactive
services, provided that it does not act as a debt collector, as
defined in 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1692a, or engage in activities for which
the institution is required to acquire a charter, license, or
registration from a state or federal governmental banking, insurance,
or securities agency. The term "financial institution" does not
include the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation or any entity
chartered and operating under the Farm Credit Act of 1971 (12 U.S.C.
Sec. 2001 et seq.), provided that the entity does not sell or
transfer nonpublic personal information to an affiliate or a
nonaffiliated third party. The term "financial institution" does not
include institutions chartered by Congress specifically to engage in
a proposed or actual securitization, secondary market sale, including
sales of servicing rights, or similar transactions related to a
transaction of the consumer, as long as those institutions do not
sell or transfer nonpublic personal information to a nonaffiliated
third party. The term "financial institution" does not include any
provider of professional services, or any wholly owned affiliate
thereof, that is prohibited by rules of professional ethics and
applicable law from voluntarily disclosing confidential client
information without the consent of the client. The term "financial
institution" does not include any person licensed as a dealer under
Article 1 (commencing with Section 11700) of Chapter 4 of Division 5
of the Vehicle Code that enters into contracts for the installment
sale or lease of motor vehicles pursuant to the requirements of
Chapter 2B (commencing with Section 2981) or 2D (commencing with
Section 2985.7) of Title 14 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code
and assigns substantially all of those contracts to financial
institutions within 30 days.
(d) "Affiliate" means any entity that controls, is controlled by,
or is under common control with, another entity, but does not include
a joint employee of the entity and the affiliate. A franchisor,
including any affiliate thereof, shall be deemed an affiliate of the
franchisee for purposes of this division.
(e) "Nonaffiliated third party" means any entity that is not an
affiliate of, or related by common ownership or affiliated by
corporate control with, the financial institution, but does not
include a joint employee of that institution and a third party.
(f) "Consumer" means an individual resident of this state, or that
individual's legal representative, who obtains or has obtained from
a financial institution a financial product or service to be used
primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. For purposes
of this division, an individual resident of this state is someone
whose last known mailing address, other than an Armed Forces Post
Office or Fleet Post Office address, as shown in the records of the
financial institution, is located in this state. For purposes of this
division, an individual is not a consumer of a financial institution
solely because he or she is (1) a participant or beneficiary of an
employee benefit plan that a financial institution administers or
sponsors, or for which the financial institution acts as a trustee,
insurer, or fiduciary, (2) covered under a group or blanket insurance
policy or group annuity contract issued by the financial
institution, (3) a beneficiary in a workers' compensation plan, (4) a
beneficiary of a trust for which the financial institution is a
trustee, or (5) a person who has designated the financial institution
as trustee for a trust, provided that the financial institution
provides all required notices and rights required by this division to
the plan sponsor, group or blanket insurance policyholder, or group
annuity contractholder.
(g) "Control" means (1) ownership or power to vote 25 percent or
more of the outstanding shares of any class of voting security of a
company, acting through one or more persons, (2) control in any
manner over the election of a majority of the directors, or of
individuals exercising similar functions, or (3) the power to
exercise, directly or indirectly, a controlling influence over the
management or policies of a company. However, for purposes of the
application of the definition of control as it relates to credit
unions, a credit union has a controlling influence over the
management or policies of a credit union service organization (CUSO),
as that term is defined by state or federal law or regulation, if
the CUSO is at least 67 percent owned by credit unions. For purposes
of the application of the definition of control to a financial
institution subject to regulation by the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission, a person who owns beneficially, either directly
or through one or more controlled companies, more than 25 percent of
the voting securities of a company is presumed to control the
company, and a person who does not own more than 25 percent of the
voting securities of a company is presumed not to control the
company, and a presumption regarding control may be rebutted by
evidence, but in the case of an investment company, the presumption
shall continue until the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission makes a decision to the contrary according to the
procedures described in Section 2(a)(9) of the federal Investment
Company Act of 1940.
(h) "Necessary to effect, administer, or enforce" means the
following:
(1) The disclosure is required, or is a usual, appropriate, or
acceptable method to carry out the transaction or the product or
service business of which the transaction is a part, and record or
service or maintain the consumer's account in the ordinary course of
providing the financial service or financial product, or to
administer or service benefits or claims relating to the transaction
or the product or service business of which it is a part, and
includes the following:
(A) Providing the consumer or the consumer's agent or broker with
a confirmation, statement, or other record of the transaction, or
information on the status or value of the financial service or
financial product.
(B) The accrual or recognition of incentives, discounts, or
bonuses associated with the transaction or communications to eligible
existing consumers of the financial institution regarding the
availability of those incentives, discounts, and bonuses that are
provided by the financial institution or another party.
(C) In the case of a financial institution that has issued a
credit account bearing the name of a company primarily engaged in
retail sales or a name proprietary to a company primarily engaged in
retail sales, the financial institution providing the retailer with
nonpublic personal information as follows:
(i) Providing the retailer, or licensees or contractors of the
retailer that provide products or services in the name of the
retailer and under a contract with the retailer, with the names and
addresses of the consumers in whose name the account is held and a
record of the purchases made using the credit account from a business
establishment, including a Web site or catalog, bearing the brand
name of the retailer.
(ii) Where the credit account can only be used for transactions
with the retailer or affiliates of that retailer that are also
primarily engaged in retail sales, providing the retailer, or
licensees or contractors of the retailer that provide products or
services in the name of the retailer and under a contract with the
retailer, with nonpublic personal information concerning the credit
account, in connection with the offering or provision of the products
or services of the retailer and those licensees or contractors.
(2) The disclosure is required or is one of the lawful or
appropriate methods to enforce the rights of the financial
institution or of other persons engaged in carrying out the financial
transaction or providing the product or service.
(3) The disclosure is required, or is a usual, appropriate, or
acceptable method for insurance underwriting or the placement of
insurance products by licensed agents and brokers with authorized
insurance companies at the consumer's request, for reinsurance, stop
loss insurance, or excess loss insurance purposes, or for any of the
following purposes as they relate to a consumer's insurance:
(A) Account administration.
(B) Reporting, investigating, or preventing fraud or material
misrepresentation.
(C) Processing premium payments.
(D) Processing insurance claims.
(E) Administering insurance benefits, including utilization review
activities.
(F) Participating in research projects.
(G) As otherwise required or specifically permitted by federal or
state law.
(4) The disclosure is required, or is a usual, appropriate, or
acceptable method, in connection with the following:
(A) The authorization, settlement, billing, processing, clearing,
transferring, reconciling, or collection of amounts charged, debited,
or otherwise paid using a debit, credit or other payment card,
check, or account number, or by other payment means.
(B) The transfer of receivables, accounts, or interests therein.
(C) The audit of debit, credit, or other payment information.
(5) The disclosure is required in a transaction covered by the
federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (12 U.S.C. Sec. 2601 et
seq.) in order to offer settlement services prior to the close of
escrow (as those services are defined in 12 U.S.C. Sec. 2602),
provided that (A) the nonpublic personal information is disclosed for
the sole purpose of offering those settlement services and (B) the
nonpublic personal information disclosed is limited to that necessary
to enable the financial institution to offer those settlement
services in that transaction.
(i) "Financial product or service" means any product or service
that a financial holding company could offer by engaging in an
activity that is financial in nature or incidental to a financial
activity under subsection (k) of Section 1843 of Title 12 of the
United States Code (the United States Bank Holding Company Act of
1956). Financial service includes a financial institution's
evaluation or brokerage of information that the financial institution
collects in connection with a request or an application from a
consumer for a financial product or service.
(j) "Clear and conspicuous" means that a notice is reasonably
understandable and designed to call attention to the nature and
significance of the information contained in the notice.
(k) "Widely distributed media" means media available to the
general public and includes a telephone book, a television or radio
program, a newspaper, or a Web site that is available to the general
public on an unrestricted basis.