Washington D.C. (February 21, 2025) | Rep. Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) issued the following statement after reintroducing the Protecting Investors’ Personally Identifiable Information Act in the 119th Congress.
“The SEC’s collection of personal financial information through the Consolidated Audit Trail is unconstitutional and entirely unnecessary; and it exposes American investors to serious cybersecurity risks from foreign adversaries and criminal hackers. This is why I developed the Protecting Investors’ Personally Identifiable Information Act in the House. The bill would effectively eliminate the potential for both accidental and intentional breaches by restricting the SEC’s automatic collection of investors’ PII. Among its provisions, the SEC will only be permitted to request this data in cases directly tied to investigating or enforcing violations of federal securities law. I appreciate Senator John Kennedy for introducing the Senate companion to this important bill.”
Rep. Ann Wagner (MO-2) said, “While I welcomed the SEC’s recent decision to exempt the reporting of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in the Consolidated Audit Trail, Congress must go even further. We must make this protection permanent and ensure the privacy of our fellow Americans. No one should be forced to endanger their personal information just to invest and save for their family’s future, and this legislation will give greater confidence to Main Street investors.”
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the U.S. Senate companion bill, S. 658.
“Americans assume their private information is secure when they invest money in the U.S. stock market. However, the SEC’s unlawful Consolidated Audit Trail could put their data in jeopardy. My bill would protect American investors from foreign enemies and bad actors by preventing the SEC from collecting personal information it doesn’t need and storing it on a dangerous database,” said Senator John Kennedy (R-LA).
“The SEC’s national registry makes every American investor and retirement saver’s personal and financial information an easy target for Russian and Chinese hackers,” said American Securities Association President & CEO Chris Iacovella. “We thank Congressman Loudermilk for his leadership and for standing up to protect America’s mom-and-pop investors and removing the personal and financial information of American investors from the SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail.”
“SIFMA applauds Congressman Loudermilk and Senator Kennedy for re-introducing the Protecting Investors’ Personally Identifiable Information Act. Consistent with the recent exemption provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), this important legislation would protect investors’ PII from being reported to the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), which is the largest database of retail and institutional trading ever created and is a ripe target for cyber criminals. For a decade, SIFMA has consistently provided alternatives to collecting such data that still address the SEC’s enforcement concerns. We commend this bicameral effort to codify the SEC’s recent exemption from the requirement to report certain PII to the CAT, and we look forward to working with Congress to enact this critical bill and ensure investors’ PII is protected,” said Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association President and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr.
Click here for a one-page summary, and here for the full House bill text of the Personally Identifiable Information Act.
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