B of A is hedging on privacy policy

Thursday, June 17, 1999 | 11:05 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Bank of America said Wednesday that its ban on sharing information about customers with third-party marketers will be less complete than it had previously announced.

Last week, amid a brewing storm over banks giving telemarketing firms information on customer spending patterns and other personal data, the North Carolina bank said it would not provide "any customer information" to "third-party marketers."

Wednesday, spokesman John Cleghorn said the bank will make some exceptions, such as providing account information to companies that call customers at home to sell insurance. He said the outsiders will be acting as the bank's "agents."

"In some instances, we may contract with outside companies," he said.

Cleghorn insisted that there is no contradiction between B of A's earlier pronouncement and such exceptions. He said outside marketers will only sell financial products that the bank by law can't provide. And B of A will require its marketers to use customer data only to sell products on the bank's behalf.

B of A's clarification puts its policy in line with Wells Fargo, which last week said it, too, would end some information-sharing with telemarketing firms but continue providing data to companies selling insurance over the telephone.