State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Connecticut > Title36a > Chap664a > Sec36a-21Sec. 36a-21. (Formerly Sec. 36-16). Information to be confidential. Disclosure. Examination reports. Exemption. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of state law and except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the following records of the Department of Banking shall not be disclosed by the commissioner or any employee of the Department of Banking, or be subject to public inspection or discovery:
(1) Examination and investigation reports and information contained in or derived from such reports, including examination reports prepared by the commissioner or prepared on behalf of or for the use of the commissioner;
(2) Confidential supervisory or investigative information obtained from a state, federal or foreign regulatory or law enforcement agency; and
(3) Information obtained, collected or prepared in connection with examinations, inspections or investigations, and complaints from the public received by the Department of Banking, if such records are protected from disclosure under federal or state law or, in the opinion of the commissioner, such records would disclose, or would reasonably lead to the disclosure of: (A) Investigative information the disclosure of which would be prejudicial to such investigation, until such time as the investigation and all related administrative and legal actions are concluded; (B) personal or financial information, including account or loan information, without the written consent of the person or persons to whom the information pertains; or (C) information that would harm the reputation of any person or affect the safety and soundness of any person whose activities in this state are subject to the supervision of the commissioner, and the disclosure of such information under this subparagraph would not be in the public interest.
(b) The commissioner may, without waiving any privilege, disclose the records described in subsection (a) of this section for any appropriate supervisory, governmental, law enforcement or other public purpose. Any such disclosure shall be made under safeguards designed to prevent further dissemination of such records. In any proceeding before a court, the court may issue a protective order in appropriate circumstances to protect the confidentiality of any such record and order that any such record on file with the court or filed in connection with the court proceeding be sealed and that the public be excluded from any portion of the proceeding at which any such record is disclosed.
(c) No director, officer, employee or agent of any Connecticut bank or Connecticut credit union shall disclose without the prior written consent of the commissioner any information contained in an examination report about such bank or credit union, which information is not otherwise a matter of public record.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the disclosure of (1) any record that is maintained by the commissioner with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System to any supervisory, governmental or law enforcement agency that is authorized to access such record on the system, provided such record shall remain the property of the Department of Banking and may not be further disclosed to any person without the consent of the commissioner, or (2) any record of a licensee that is maintained by the commissioner with such system to such licensee. No person may obtain information from the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System that could not otherwise be obtained under state law. No information obtained from the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System shall be admissible as evidence in, or used to initiate, a civil proceeding in this state unless such information would otherwise be admissible in such proceeding under state law.
(1949 Rev., S. 5739; P.A. 77-614, S. 161, 610; P.A. 80-482, S. 239, 345, 348; P.A. 84-71, S. 1, 2; P.A. 87-9, S. 2, 3; P.A. 94-122, S. 14, 340; P.A. 00-123; P.A. 07-156, S. 3; P.A. 08-176, S. 31, 35.)
History: P.A. 77-614 replaced bank commissioner with banking commissioner and made banking department a division within the department of business regulation, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 80-482 restored banking division as an independent department with commissioner as its head and abolished the department of business regulation; P.A. 84-71 added Subsec. (b) requiring confidentiality for examination, operating or condition reports of financial institutions prepared by or for the use of the commissioner; (Revisor's note: Pursuant to P.A. 87-9 "banking department" was changed editorially by the Revisors to "department of banking"); P.A. 94-122 made technical changes, effective January 1, 1995; Sec. 36-16 transferred to Sec. 36a-21 in 1995; P.A. 00-123 deleted former Subsecs. (a) and (b), added new Subsec. (a) prohibiting disclosure of certain records, added new Subsec. (b) re disclosure of records and protective orders, and added new Subsec. (c) re disclosure of examination report information; P.A. 07-156 added Subsec. (d) re records maintained with and information obtained from national mortgage licensing system, effective September 30, 2008; P.A. 08-176 changed effective date of P.A. 07-156, S. 3, from September 30, 2008, to July 1, 2008, and amended Subsec. (d) to substitute "Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System" for "national mortgage licensing system", effective July 1, 2008.
