More than five months ago, eight federal regulatory agencies released their final model privacy notice form (“Model Form”) (which we blogged about here) to help financial institutions satisfy the disclosure requirements established by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) and help consumers understand how these institutions collect and share their information. On April 15, 2010, those same agencies attempted to ease the burden of completing the Model Form by releasing an Online Form Builder.

The Online Form Builder provides the financial institution with the choice of four form options depending on the financial institution’s data sharing practices and the opt-out rights it extends to consumers.

Some financial institutions will gravitate towards the Model Form because by using it, they will obtain a legal “safe harbor” which confirms their compliance with the GLBA’s disclosure requirements. It remains to be seen, however, whether all financial institutions will adopt the Model Form given the difficulty a financial institution may have in conveying its complex affiliate relationships and the fact that the Model Form rules do not allow the form to be modified in any material respect.