32-9-160. Confidentiality. (1) (a) Except as otherwise provided in section 1512 of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act, Title V of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, Public Law 110-289, the requirements under federal law, the Montana constitution, or Montana law regarding the privacy or confidentiality of any information or material provided to the NMLS and any privilege arising under federal or state law, including the rules of a federal or state court, pertaining to the information or material continue to apply to the information or material after the information or material has been disclosed to the NMLS.

(b) Information and material may be shared with all state and federal financial services regulatory agencies and with the board of governors of the federal reserve system without the loss of confidentiality protections or the loss of privilege provided by federal law, the Montana constitution, or Montana law.

(2) The department may disclose to a licensee information about a service provider of the licensee.

(3) The department may enter into agreements or sharing arrangements with other governmental agencies, the conference of state bank supervisors, the American association of residential mortgage regulators, or associations representing governmental agencies as established by rule of the department.

(4) Information or material subject to confidentiality or a privilege under subsection (1) is not subject to:

(a) disclosure under a federal or state law governing disclosure to the public of information held by an officer or an agency of the federal government or the respective state; or

(b) subpoena, discovery, or admission into evidence in any private civil action or administrative process unless, with respect to any privilege held by the NMLS concerning the information or material, the person to whom the information or material pertains waives, in whole or in part, that privilege.

(5) Montana law relating to the disclosure of confidential supervisory information or information or material described in subsection (1) that is inconsistent with subsection (1) is superseded by the requirements of section 1512 of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act, Title V of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, Public Law 110-289.

(6) Examination reports, information contained in examination reports, and examiners' work papers are confidential material that retain their status as trade secrets or confidential proprietary information of the entities that are the subject of the reports despite having been compelled to be produced to the state for examination purposes. Confidential material is not subject to public inspection, subpoena, or discovery. To the extent that examination reports, work papers, and other confidential material contain personal financial information and personal identification information of individuals, those individuals retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in their personal financial or personal identification information, and although filed with the department as provided in this part, that information is not subject to public inspection, subpoena, or discovery except as directed by a court of law.

(7) This section does not apply to information or material relating to the employment history of and publicly adjudicated disciplinary and enforcement actions against mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders, mortgage servicers, and mortgage loan originators included in the NMLS that is available for public access. (See part compiler's comment regarding contingent suspension.)

History: En. Sec. 33, Ch. 321, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 37, Ch. 317, L. 2011; amd. Sec. 28, Ch. 125, L. 2013; amd. Sec. 12, Ch. 65, L. 2019.