the withholding of information about the transactions, accounts, and deposits of the clients of banks and other credit institutions. Guaranteeing bank secrecy is the duty of credit institutions; they give out information about transactions, accounts, and deposits only in cases indicated in the laws. In the USSR, the proprietors of accounts (deposits), their representatives, higher organizations, and also judicial, investigatory, and financial organs (the latter only for transactions and accounts of juridical persons) have the right to such information. The regulations of banks and savings banks in the USSR stipulate that it is the obligation of the employees of these institutions to maintain secrecy concerning transactions, accounts, and deposits.