Barclays being investigated over breach of privacy

One of the UK's leading high street banks, Barclays, is being investigated by the Information Commissioner's Office for alleged breaches of customer privacy.

The announcement into the investigation comes after an undercover investigation involving two of the bank's call centres, which was carried out by the BBC. The undercover investigation went on for nine months, and the reporter issued a report on her findings just weeks ago, which has now led to this official investigation.

According to the BBC reporter, staff at Barclays were being trained to mis-sell products, ignore the wishes of consumers that had stated they did not wish to be contacted, lie to customers, and be lax with regards to security information.

The Information Commissioner's Office is now carrying out its own investigation to determine whether the leading bank is in breach of customer privacy laws and whether it breached the Data Protection Act and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. Call centre staff have been accused of 'deliberately flouting' rules and regulations with regards to sales.

According to the BBC report staff at Barclays were accessing customers' account information without any valid reason, and were also being told not to state that they were sales advisors but to pass themselves off as account consultants to customers.

An internal enquiry has also been carried out by the bank itself, and regulators have asked the bank to provide it with the results of this internal enquiry as part of the investigation. Copies of sales policies and procedures have also been requested from the bank by regulatory bodies.

One official from the Information Commissioner's Office, Mick Gorrill, stated: 'The ICO takes breaches of people's privacy extremely seriously. For instance, making sales calls to people who have expressly asked not to be contacted is totally unacceptable.'

Tom Smith
10th May 2007