From: RegTech Analyst
The British financial watchdog that fines businesses for failing to keep their own customers’ data safe has accidentally revealed 1,600 consumers data.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a response to a Freedom of Information Act request on its website in November 2019. When it did, it also made public the names, address, telephone number or other private information of people related to complaints filed with the FCA.
“The publication of this information was a mistake by the FCA,” the regulatory watchdog said in a statement. “As soon as we became aware of this, we removed the relevant data from our website. We have undertaken a full review to identify the extent of any information that may have been accessible. Our primary concern is to ensure the protection and safeguarding of individuals who may be identifiable from the data.”
No financial, payment card, passport or other identity information were included in the compromised information, according to the FCA.
The regulator claims that in most cases no confidential information rather than the name of the person making the complaint was revealed.
“However, there are instances where additional confidential information was contained within the description of the complaint, for example an address, telephone number, or other information,” continued the FCA. “Where this is the case, we are making direct contact with the individuals concerned to apologise and to advise them of the extent of the data disclosed and what the next steps might be.”
The FCA has referred the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
This is seen as an embarrassment to the regulator since it has fined companies, such as Tesco Bank’s £16.4m fine in 2018, for failing to protect customer information. The news follows from The Pensions Regulator slapping the FCA with a £2,000 fine in February for failing to accurately reporting its staff pension plan.
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