S. 1544 — Insurance Data Protection Act

This section expands confidentiality protections applicable to the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) by (1) extending them to the sharing of nonpublicly available data and information with or by the FIO among other federal agencies, state insurance regulators (or their agents), or other entities; (2) clarifying that privileges described in subparagraph (A) are included among those protected from disclosure; and (3) specifying that exceptions under the referenced section of title 18, United States Code, apply. (The FIO collects and analyzes insurance sector data to inform Treasury policy, coordinate with domestic and international regulators, and monitor market disruptions.)

This section limits the subpoena authority of the Office of Financial Research by excluding insurance companies, as defined in section 201(a) of the Financial Stability Act of 2010, from the financial companies to which it may issue subpoenas.

This section establishes requirements under the Financial Stability Act of 2010 (Title I of Dodd-Frank) for financial regulators (i.e., SEC, CFTC, FSOC, federal banking agencies, Office of Financial Research) collecting data from covered entities (i.e., nonbank financial companies that are insurance companies designated for Federal Reserve supervision). Specifically, it (1) requires financial regulators, before collecting data under Title I or Title II, to coordinate with relevant federal agencies, state insurance regulators, other regulatory agencies, and public sources to obtain available data timely, and to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act if collecting directly from a covered entity; (2) authorizes such agencies and regulators to share data notwithstanding other laws; (3) provides that sharing nonpublic data does not waive federal or state privileges or affect prior confidentiality agreements; (4) authorizes financial regulators to share data with state insurance regulators via compliant information-sharing agreements that preserve privileges; and (5) applies FOIA (5 U.S.C. § 552), including its exemptions, to data submitted by covered entities. This section also makes a conforming amendment to the Dodd-Frank table of contents.