Bank loses customer mortgage insurance details

Last year saw a range of data loss blunders by banks and government agencies, which put millions of consumers at increased risk of becoming victims of identity theft and fraud, including the loss of 25 million consumers’ personal and bank details lost by HM Revenue and Customs when two discs went missing.

Whilst we have only just edged into the second quarter of this year a bank has recently admitted to another huge data loss blunder, having lost the details of hundred of thousands of customer with mortgage related life insurance.

High street bank, HSBC, has recently admitted that it has lost a disc that contains the personal details of 370,000 customers that have taken out mortgage related life insurance with the bank. The disc was being sent out via courier around four weeks ago according to a recent report, and the information contained included the names, dates of birth, insurance cover details, and other information about the customers.

The bank has now reported the incident to the UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, and reports indicate that the bank now faces an investigation over the loss of the data. If the investigation reveals that security measures by the bank were not up to scratch HSBC could face hefty fines and penalties.

An official from the bank stated: ‘There is nothing else that could in any way compromise a customer and there is no reason to suppose that the disk has fallen into the wrong hands. Nonetheless, HSBC would like to apologise to its life assurance customers for any concern this may cause them. Each customer will be contacted shortly and a thorough investigation into this matter is underway.’