During an investigation into various HSBC subsidiaries, Britain’s financial regulator found that unencrypted customer data had been sent to third parties.
Oh, and:
Confidential information about customers was also left on open shelves or in unlocked cabinets and could have been lost or stolen. In addition, staff were not given sufficient training on how to identify and manage risks like identity theft.
Result? A £3m fine.
Actually, back in April 2007, HSBC Actuaries lost a floppy disk containing the personal information of 1,917 pension scheme members. And then in February last year, despite all the hooha over data security, HSBC Life managed to lose a CD with details of 180,000 policy holders on it.
Maybe the FSA’s remit should be extended to keeping an eye on the Ministry of Defence and other careless government departments.
The final notices for HSBC Life, HSBC Insurance Brokers and HSBC Actuaries