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Imagine logging into your banking app to
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check your balance, but instead of your
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own transactions, you see someone
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else's. Their morning coffee, their
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rent, and even their national insurance
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number. For some Brits earlier this
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month, this wasn't a hypothetical.
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Nearly half a million customers of
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Lloyds Bank and its subsidiaries Halifax
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and Bank of Scotland were recently
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caught in a major technical glitch. On
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March 12th, a tech bungle turned private
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financial data into a public gallery for
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thousands of strangers. Over 114,000
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people actually clicked on these rogue
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transactions that appeared on their
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mobile banking app. The parliamentary
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Treasury Committee is now demanding
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answers, calling it a trade-off we make
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for the convenience of mobile banking.
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So, what is the bank doing about it?
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Well, Lloyds has already started forking
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out compensation. So far, they've paid
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to over 3,600 customers. These are
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goodwill payments for the distress and
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inconvenience of having your privacy
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compromised. While Lloyds insists no one
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has suffered actual financial loss, the
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Information Commissioner's Office is
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watching closely. Lloyds has pointed to
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an internal software defect for the
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problems caused. But the whole debacle
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has highlighted a growing vulnerability
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as banks close physical branches and
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push users online. In my conversations
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with legal experts, they have warned
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Lloyds could be staring down the barrel
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of a major fine from regulators. The
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data watchdog handed out 15 fines in
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2025, which collectively topped 21.7
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million pounds. Well, could Lloyds be
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next on the list? And does this whole
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incident provide a revealing insight
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into some of the more worrying issues
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with banking's digital future? Stick
1:46
with City A.M. for all the latest
