Title 12

SECTION 1271.21

1271.21 Third party requests for confidential regulatory information.

§ 1271.21 Third party requests for confidential regulatory information.

(a) General. In the event a Bank receives a request for confidential regulatory information in its possession from any third party, the Bank shall forward such request to the financial regulatory agency from which the confidential regulatory information was obtained.

(b) Subpoena. In the event a Bank receives a subpoena for confidential regulatory information issued by a Federal, state or local government department, agency, court or bureau, the Bank shall give timely written notice of such subpoena to the financial regulatory agency from which the confidential regulatory information was obtained, unless such notice is prohibited by applicable law. Except as limited in this subpart, the Bank may disclose confidential regulatory information pursuant to the subpoena, after giving timely written notice, when:

(1) The financial regulatory agency gives written approval to the disclosure; or

(2) A binding order to produce the confidential regulatory information has become final with all rights of appeal either exhausted or lapsed.

(c) Nondisclosure to third parties. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, a Bank shall not disclose confidential regulatory information to any third party. A Bank shall refer all third party requests for such confidential regulatory information to the financial regulatory agency that released the confidential regulatory information to the Bank.

(d) Disclosure to FHFA. (1) Neither this subpart nor any confidentiality agreement executed between a Bank and a financial regulatory agency shall prevent a Bank from disclosing confidential regulatory information in its possession to FHFA whenever disclosure is necessary to accomplish FHFA's supervision of Bank membership applications or Bank director eligibility issues, or disclosing any confidential regulatory information in its possession if such disclosure is made pursuant to an audit conducted pursuant to § 1271.19 or section 20 of the Bank Act (12 U.S.C. 1440).

(2) FHFA shall keep all confidential regulatory information received under this paragraph (d) in strict confidence.

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