BPI Comments on FDIC Confidential Information Disclosure Proposal

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The Bank Policy Institute^[1] is submitting these comments on the proposal issued by the FDIC to update, clarify, and supplement its regulations regarding the disclosure of confidential information by the FDIC and other parties.^[2] We support the objectives of allowing institutions to disclose more information with third parties without prior FDIC approval while continuing to safeguard information that is appropriately considered confidential. Our recommendations in this letter are aimed at creating clearer standards that are consistently and rationally applied to FDIC-supervised institutions, while also promoting the important public policy underlying the regulatory restrictions on disclosure of confidential information.^[3]

Maintaining appropriate confidentiality of supervisory information is important, but the current rules are not well calibrated to that goal. Indeed, as the proposal acknowledges, there are occasions where institutions need to use and share confidential information on a limited and controlled basis for legitimate business, management, and regulatory advocacy purposes, but the rules discourage such uses.

It is also essential that "confidential information" be defined reasonably and with precision because whether information is confidential affects the day-to-day operations of supervised institutions. The mechanisms that permit sharing of confidential information should operate without creating undue burden. Institutions routinely handle confidential information and dedicate significant resources to compliance programs designed to minimize the risk of improper handling or disclosure of confidential information. Nonetheless, maintaining control over the dissemination of ordinary course communications between banks and regulators may be challenging and create compliance risk.

To read the full comment letter, please click here, or click on the download button below.

[1] The Bank Policy Institute is a nonpartisan public policy, research, and advocacy group that represents universal banks, regional banks, and the major foreign banks doing business in the United States. The Institute produces academic research and analysis on regulatory and monetary policy topics, analyzes and comments on proposed regulations, and represents the financial services industry with respect to cybersecurity, fraud, and other information security issues.

[2] See Disclosure of Information, 91 Fed. Reg. 39726, 39727 (June 30, 2026) (hereinafter, the "FDIC Proposal").

[3] References to "confidential information" in this comment letter refer to confidential information as that term is used in the FDIC's proposal.