WASHINGTON – The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
announced actions today against two former national bank employees who
compromised confidential financial information of bank customers. James Earl Smith, former vice president and
loan officer, and Vicki Boutilier, former loan processor, of Grand Valley
National Bank, Grand Junction, Colorado, consented to permanent removals from
banking and to civil money penalties of $20,000 and $10,000 respectively.
“National bank customers have a right to expect that the
confidentiality of their financial information will be protected,” said
Comptroller of the Currency John D. Hawke, Jr. “The OCC will respond
aggressively if we find that bank employees are misusing that information, or
placing it at risk of unauthorized disclosure.”
The OCC was prepared to charge Mr. Smith and Ms. Boutilier
with copying more than 2,200 customer loan files and e-mailing them over an
unsecure internet connection to a third party.
Their actions violated privacy regulations and constituted unsafe and
unsound banking practices.
The two planned to use the loan files in connection with
future employment, but in e-mailing the electronic loan files, they placed the
confidentiality of the customer files at risk.
Soon after the electronic transfer of loan files was made, the
misconduct was detected by the bank, which notified law enforcement authorities
and the OCC. Copies of loan files sent
to the third party were recovered quickly, and there is no indication that the
files were used for further improper purposes.
In addition to the permanent removals and civil money
penalties, Mr. Smith and Ms. Boutilier also consented to personal cease and
desist orders requiring them to disclose the OCC’s enforcement action to
present and future employers involved in the transfer of nonpublic personal
information to federally insured depository institutions.
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The OCC charters, regulates
and examines approximately 2,100 national banks and 52 federal branches of
foreign banks in the U.S., accounting for more than 55 percent of the
nation’s banking assets. Its mission is to ensure a safe and sound and
competitive national banking system that supports the citizens, communities and
economy of the United States.
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