(A) The superintendent of financial institutions may grant confidential treatment for information in or related to an application or notice submitted to the superintendent pursuant to Chapters 1101. to 1127. of the Revised Code that is subject to the superintendent's approval or an opportunity for the superintendent to disapprove, if confidential treatment is requested by the person submitting the application or notice and any of the following applies:

(1) The information is of a commercial or financial nature, disclosure of which would likely result in substantial harm to the competitive position of the person submitting the application or notice, affiliates of the person submitting the application or notice, or any other party to the transaction or its affiliates.

(2) The information is of a personal, medical, financial, or similar nature, disclosure of which would result in a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

(3) The information is contained in, related to, or derived from examinations, operating or condition reports, agreements, orders, or actions prepared by, or on behalf of, or for the use of a governmental agency or authority responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions.

(4) The information has been filed with a governmental agency or authority and has not yet been approved for disclosure by that agency or authority.

(5) The information is specifically exempted from disclosure by statute.

(B) The person requesting confidential treatment under this section shall do so in writing at the time the application or notice containing the information, or additional information related to an application or notice, is submitted. The request shall separately address each item of information for which confidential treatment is requested, explaining the applicability of the asserted justification for confidential treatment and specifically demonstrating the harm that would result from public disclosure of the item of information or the reason the person submitting the application or notice cannot authorize public disclosure of the item of information. The person submitting the application or notice shall separately bind and identify all items of information for which confidential treatment is requested and make specific reference to those items in the remainder of the application or notice or additional information related to the application or notice.

(C) The superintendent shall review a request for confidential treatment and provide the person submitting the application or notice with written notice of the superintendent's decision on granting confidential treatment for each item of information for which it is requested. If the superintendent's decision is not to grant confidential treatment to an item of information, the person submitting the application or notice may withdraw the item of information by written notice within ten days after that person's receipt of the superintendent's decision. If the person submitting the application or notice fails to withdraw the item of information within the ten-day period, that person is deemed to have waived the right to withdraw, and the item of information is deemed a part of the application or notice available to the public.

(D) An item of information submitted with a request for confidential treatment is deemed not to have been filed with the superintendent until the superintendent grants confidential treatment or the person submitting the application or notice is deemed to have waived the right to withdraw the item of information. Until the item of information submitted with a request for confidential treatment is filed in accordance with this section, no person shall copy or inspect the item of information or anything derived from the item of information, except as is necessary to assist the superintendent in deciding whether to grant confidential treatment to the item of information in accordance with division (C) of this section.

(E) When an item of information is filed following the superintendent's decision to grant it confidential treatment, the item of information is not a public record, as defined in section 149.43 of the Revised Code, and shall be used only by the superintendent in connection with the performance of the duties and exercise of the powers of the superintendent. However, without prior notice to the person submitting the application or notice, the superintendent may disclose or comment on any of the contents of the application or notice in an order, statement, or opinion issued by the superintendent in connection with a decision on the application or notice.

Effective Date: 01-01-1997 .