Lloyds faces questions from Treasury Committee about recent banking app glitch

Lloyds Banking Group is facing questions from an influential committee of MPs after some customers reported being able to see other people’s transactions in their banking app last week.

Treasury Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier has written to Lloyds requesting information including the number of affected customers, expected compensation payouts and the nature of the information which became visible.

In the letter, headed “improper disclosure of individuals’ account information” and written to group chief executive Charlie Nunn, Dame Meg said: “On the face of it, this is an alarming breach of data confidentiality.

“In the interests of transparency, I would welcome a set of responses from Lloyds Banking Group related to this troubling incident.”

The letter requested that, following the bank’s response, and preferably within one month of its first letter, it gives an initial assessment of whether some customers have been made victims of financial crime, aided by the information released in the breach.

Within six months, the committee has requested that the bank provides a full description of how the incident occurred, and the steps taken to prevent it happening again in the future.

On March 12, some customers using Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Halifax apps reported that they were able to see information related to other people’s accounts through their banking app.

Customers said they could see transactions unrelated to them such as direct debits, wages, cash withdrawals, and some national insurance numbers related to payments.

One woman told the Press Association last week of her shock to find that she was “looking at someone else’s life” when she logged into her banking app.

Last March, the committee found that nine of the top banks had accumulated at least 33 days’ worth of outages over the preceding two years.

A Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) spokesperson said last week that it was in contact with Lloyds to understand what had happened and how it was being resolved.

The FCA spokesperson said previously: “We expect firms to protect customer data and be able to respond to and quickly recover from disruptions.”

Lloyds has previously apologised to customers and said it was looking into what had happened.

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said on Tuesday: “On March 12, some customers using our app may have briefly seen transactions that weren’t theirs due to an internal IT change.

“We’re very sorry this happened.

“No action is needed from customers and there was no issue with account security.

“We’ve identified those affected and will contact them to provide further information.

“We will of course respond to Dame Meg’s letter as soon as possible.”

It is understood that only customers who logged in during a short window on Thursday morning last week were affected by the glitch, and the bank is aware who those people are.

The bank has reported the incident to the FCA and the Information Commissioner’s Office.