How easy for bank staff to access account without authorization?

abankerbutnotafatcat

Firstly, there are lots of banks out there so if you are in the slightest bit worried just close your account and move to one where no one you know works.

I believe that the way most banks work is 'markers' are put on accounts of people likely to be the victims of 'snooping' i.e. famous people. I personally witnessed, many years ago, a colleague in an adjacent department being unceremoniously frog-marched out of the building (and his career) as he had gained unauthorised access to the account of one of the Bank's own board members.

I don't know of an automatic audit trail for viewing on 'normal peoples'' bank accounts. I have never been advised of this or heard of it but I have never worked in a call centre/retail banking where we need to view personal accounts at all. There is an audit trail for any amendments made to an account whether that is address changes or transactions.

Personally, I have never viewed an account for anything other than professional reasons and would be surprised to learn that any of my colleagues had either - we have a duty of care we take seriously.

Fiddlestick

Gromitt wrote: »

Sure, every action they do can be logged, but I doubt there is a camera about every employee, so what is to stop them writing the information on a piece of paper and handing it to someone else at the pub for £50 ?

Last time I worked in a job that involved taking customer financial details (it wasn't a bank) we were absolutely banned from writing down bank or card details - it was a sackable offence.

MoneySaverLog

Fiddlestick wrote: »

My boss, my director, the bank, my partner and the tax man all know my income.

I don't consider it particularly secret.

Yes but your list is limited to those who really do need to know. Not your average snoop who has no authority or need to know.

Even then my employer does not know everything, what savings and investments I may have which is none of their business. They just know my income from them cause they have to pay me it for the work I do. :rotfl:

MoneySaverLog

Fiddlestick wrote: »

Last time I worked in a job that involved taking customer financial details (it wasn't a bank) we were absolutely banned from writing down bank or card details - it was a sackable offence.

Quite right too.

Mandelbrot

Can't stop someone memorising something ...

opinions4u

People at the local travel agent know where I went on holiday last year. And how much I paid. The new girl who knows my eldest son can look it up if she wants to, even though she didn't work there at the time I went away.

The assistant at the doctor's surgery could delve in to my records and discover I had a prescription for depression renewed several times a few years ago.

Certain people who work for Tesco can see that I buy rather too many bottles of cider if they choose to delve in to my Clubcard records.

Staff at Ladbrokes could find out that I gamble a lot less these days than I used to if they were specifically interested in me.

In the past, some of these things would possibly have become common knowledge, as women gossiped in queues at the butcher or men discussed things down the pub.

These days the Data Protection Act, overlayed by strict policies by employers, means that while the data may well be accessible to staff internally, it sohuld only be used in the course of doing your job. A breach can and does lead to termination of employment and in some cases prosecution.

We are better protected now, as individuals, than we have ever been, thanks to a mix of the DPA, employer compliance and a slightly excessive PC nation. Appropriate, as there is more data out there than there has ever been. It's not just banks and other financial institutions, it's all companies that we do business with, including Government bodies such as councils and HMRC.

But paranoia serves little purpose. Accept that companies have data. Accept that employees of those businesses can access that data. Accept that companies and the law have protections in place to ensure that it is only used for appropriate purposes. And if those purposes are breached the penalties are invariably more severe than any gain that can be made by an individual (or loss that can be made to you).