The City watchdog are expected to be called upon to investigate the loss of a computer disc holding the account details of 370,00 HSBC customers, that went missing four weeks ago.
The disc was last seen leaving the HSBC offices in Southampton with an external courier, en route to a re-insurer. The disc contains the names, birth-dates and insurance cover levels of people with life assurance with the bank, generally linked to mortgages.
A spokeswoman for HSBC said: “The data disk contains no address or bank account details for any customer and would therefore be of very limited, if any, use to criminals.
“The data, which was password-protected, includes names, life insurance
cover levels, dates of birth and whether or not a customer smokes. 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.”
The bank has apologised to customers affected by the loss and says each client will be contacted shortly, while a thorough investigation in the matter is already under way.
HSBC has reported the loss to the Financial Services Authority who have the power to impose a hefty fine on companies not having the proper systems in place to protect customer data.
In December Norwich Union were fined £1.26million for failing to have effective controls in place, and Nationwide were fined £980,000 after a lap top containing confidential customer information was stolen from a employee’s home.
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