Data Statistics

The UK’s major banks and lenders are among firms responsible for 183% increase in ICO investigations into reported data breaches in the financial services sector since 2013.

The number of breaches of theData Protection Act (DPA)reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)by the financial services sector has increased by 183% in the past two years, figures show.

Since 2013, the ICO has investigated 791 breaches of the DPA by banks, building societies and insurance firms, according to data obtained under a freedom of information (FOI) request.

The reported breaches of the DPA by financial services firms included 158 disclosures of personal information.

The increase in reported breaches by the sector saw 585 incidents reported to the ICO in 2014 alone – more than three times the number of incidents reported by thelegal sector for the same period, which reported 187.

These figures come at a time of increased scrutiny of how the financial services industry handles confidential personal and corporate data. Most recently, theBank of Englandwas revealed to have inadvertently sent highly sensitive financial information regarding the UK’s EU membership to the wrong email address.

Human error continues to drive up the number of breaches in all sectors.

This echoes the findings of the government’s newly released2015 data breaches surveyconducted by PwC, which found that 75% of large organisations suffering a staff-related breach, up from 58% a year ago, and nearly a third of small organisations, up from 22% in 2014.

When asked about the single worst breach, half of the organisations polled attributed the cause to inadvertent human error, up from 31% a year ago.

Across all industries, the ICO has issued civil monetary penalties in excess of £7.5m, £455,000 of which were levied against financial services organisations.

This figure could potentially be set to rise when proposed reforms to the EU General Data Protection Regulation comes into force in the next few years. It is expected that the new legislation will introduce fines of up to 2% of annual turnover for a serious breach.

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