HSBC dumps courier services over lost tape of customer calls

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation has stopped using courier services to deliver customer information and is considering the electronic transfer of data in future, it said.

HSBC said yesterday a tape, one of 55 shipped from the group's call centre in Guangzhou to Hong Kong last month by courier service DHL, was lost in transit.

The backup tape contained 25,000 calls recorded from April 18 to 24, mostly related to credit card inquiries, business internet banking for commercial banking customers and general outbound calls to customers.

HSBC executive director Peter Wong Tung-shun said a 'full review' of its procedures of sending information would be carried out to prevent similar incidents, but denied that negligence had been involved. He said it was common practice for a third party to deliver items containing customers' information.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority deputy chief Choi Yiu-Kwan expressed concern about the incident and said the regulatory body had sent notices to all local banks demanding a review of personal data protection. HSBC had also been ordered to report why it had taken days to notify the authorities about the lost tape.

Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Roderick Woo Bun said the body had only been notified on Wednesday although the tape had gone missing on June 19. A senior staff member had been sent to investigate.