Lloyds Bank forks out compensation after tech glitch hit nearly half a million
Nearly half a million Lloyds Banking Group mobile app users were hit by the firm’s major tech glitch earlier this month with the bank now dishing out compensation payments to some of those affected.
Up to 447,936 customers of Lloyds and group subsidiaries Halifax and Bank of Scotland saw other rogue transactions across their accounts or had their data shared with other users.
Some 114,000 users also clicked on other people’s exposed transactions that may have revealed sensitive information such as account details, national insurance numbers and payment references.
The latest bombshell revelations on the tech blunder follows the Treasury Select Committee pressing the banking giant for answers on how many customers were affected.
In a letter published this morning, Lloyds chief executive of consumer relations Jasjyot Singh said the bank had made “good will” payments to over 3,600 customers, with compensation topping £139,000.
Lloyds incident highlights ‘trade-off’
Chair of the Treasury Committee, Dame 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.”
CityAM reported earlier this month that legal experts had warned Lloyds may face a major fine and investigation for the incident, which took place on 12 March.
Chris Cook, head of the employment and data protection at SA Law told CityAM: “A technical failure exposing customer financial information, even briefly, could constitute a reportable data breach under UK data protection law.
“Banks have a duty to ensure that personal and financial data is kept secure, and any inadvertent disclosure can trigger regulatory obligations, including notification to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).”
The ICO said it had been “aware of an incident affecting some online banking services” and would be “making enquiries”.
Singh said in his letter: “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.”