We are not aware of any laws or rules that would require you to provide additional disclosures related to online banking beyond the disclosures that you ordinarily provide for your commercial customers. For example, Regulation E disclosure requirements may apply when online banking is added to a consumer account, but that regulation does not apply to your commercial customers. 12 CFR 1005.2(b)(1). In addition, the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (E-SIGN) Act disclosures required when using electronic records in place of written records apply only to consumers. 15 USC 7001(c). However, we recommend checking your commercial customers’ account agreements to determine whether you have agreed to provide any additional disclosures applicable to online banking.

In addition, we are not aware of any laws or rules that would require your institution to make online banking services available to all of your customers — although in today’s climate of CRA, UDAAP, disparate impact, and heightened scrutiny by the CFPB, Department of Justice and fifty state attorney generals, the facts underlying a bank’s decision to provide internet access to some but not all customers likely would be an important consideration.  We believe that drawing a distinction based on commercial versus consumer customers, when taking costs into consideration, should be defensible, but that is only our view.

We also recommend reviewing our Online Banking topic page for more information.