1) If you don't share at least one group in common with the user, you won't be able to see their profile (with one lone exception).
We use groups to control permissions within the CBANC Community. They are one way we ensure that CBANC remains a trusted environment for verified Financial Professionals, i.e. employees of a US bank or credit union.
Every user that creates an account on CBANC is vetted and placed into at least one group based on the organization they work for.
Only users that share at least one group in common can see each other's profile. There's one lone exception: any user can see the profiles of employees at a Vendor that has partnered with CBANC. However those Vendor partners cannot see the Community profile of an FI Professional. They also see an anonymized signature on content authored by the FI Professional until the FI Professional chooses to share their contact information with the Vendor.