The head of the House of Commons Treasury Committee has reinforced the need for transparency from financial services entities, and acknowledged that new digital banking services come with potential downsides
Nearly half a million Lloyds Banking Group customers were impacted by a data glitch which meant app users could view others’ transactions, the company’s senior leaders have advised parliament.
In a letter sent to the House of Common’s Treasury Committee, leaders from the bank confirmed 447,936 people were affected on the morning of 12 March, since when the company has been working with privacy and financial regulators on investigating the issue.
Of those affected, 114,182 customers viewed more detailed information about transactions which may have included account details, National Insurance numbers and payment references. Lloyds Banking Group includes Lloyds, Halifax and the Bank of Scotland.
The IT glitch occurred after an update to online services, but only impacted mobile banking app users, not internet banking. No customer had access to others’ accounts or were able to perform unauthorised actions or move money, according to Lloyds.
Jasjyot Singh, chief executive of customer relationships at Lloyds Banking Group, said in the letter: “Although it was fixed promptly, we are extremely sorry the incident happened and we understand the questions it will have prompted. We have immediately investigated how the incident occurred. We have also notified the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Information Commissioner’s Office and will, of course, cooperate fully with them.”
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The IT update which caused the issue was completed at 03:28 on Thursday 12 March, with an investigation launched at 06:20 following customer reports. The issue was resolved by 08:08.
An assessment by the bank concluded it was “very unlikely” the information viewed could be used to carry out fraudulent activity.
However, the bank has paid out £139,000 in “goodwill payments” to 3,625 customers.
Treasury committee chair Meg Hillier said: “Modern banking methods mean we can now perform a variety of tasks on our phones in a matter of seconds, and almost anywhere. What this incident brings into focus is the fact that there is a trade-off. By moving more interactions with our bank online, we place our faith in technology which can suffer unpredictable errors. It’s critical that consumers understand this, and that’s why my committee continues to push banks to be transparent when things go wrong.”
The bank has been asked to update the committee in one month and six months’ time.
A version of this story originally appeared on PublicTechnology sister publication Holyrood
