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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder if bank staff can access your accounts?

137 replies

lhastingsmua · 14/05/2018 07:13

Of their own accord (not assisting you in any capacity)?

My ex now works at my main bank, as far as I know at a customer call centre and not in branch. He’s quite obsessive and knows I bank with this company. I’m concerned that he could search for my account and bring up my details, including my new contact information/address alongside my financial information (which would also show him where I now work and my salary.)

Please tell me I’m being silly and he cannot simply access my account without my authorisation?

OP posts:
yellowmellw · 14/05/2018 08:12

Although there is a way to check the accounts to see what advisors have looked at your account so if you ever suspected he had looked or threatened then all you have to Do is call and speak to a manger to ask them to check for you.

Maybe the threat of that will stop him doing it

Zcarter · 14/05/2018 08:13

I have worked for them for years yes he will have access. I doubt he would risk his job tho looking at an ex’s bank account

Juiceylucy09 · 14/05/2018 08:13

Yes he certainly can.

If you were suspicious, I would phone the bank they can check. Every time staff logs into a customer account it leaves a detailed log. There would be a trace.

WalkingOnAFlashlightBeam · 14/05/2018 08:14

ClaudiaWankleman no, you're right, OP couldn't make it so that his access is literally revoked. But she can bring it to the attention of the bank that she has reason to believe he may have accessed her account inappropriately (for no good reason, just to snoop, and that he shouldn't have done as he has a personal relation to her). That should lead to them either monitoring her account to ensure he doesn't access it, or checking to see if he has in the past.

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 14/05/2018 08:14

This is a really interesting thread - I can't believe I've never thought about who can look at my accounts!

WalkingOnAFlashlightBeam · 14/05/2018 08:16

I think you'd have to submit a freedom of information request to find out who accessed your account, just ringing the bank wouldn't do it. They're not going to informally sit on the phone and say 'ah yes, Donna accessed it at this time and date, before that Susan did' etc.

OP, can you try and get a meeting with the branch manager? I think that'd be the best way forward. I know if anyone had contacted our branch with a security concern asking to meet the manager he'd have taken it very seriously and done all he could to ensure you were reassured that your accounts were protected while you moved banks.

Original poster
lhastingsmua · 14/05/2018 08:17

It’s definitely a call centre that he works at, probably in retail customer service.

I am going to make a complaint about this now - so ridiculous that it’s so easy to access. Especially as when I do move banks, he could still see my previous statements and decipher my financial information that way. I’m thinking that management could search internal records for my account against the accounts that he has accessed and confirm if he has checked my account and deal with him from there if he has. I haven’t actually needed to contact Barclays in a while so there wouldn’t be any need to access my account for legitimate reasons. Also ridiculous for me to have to move all my main accounts over just to protect myself from bank staff Confused

OP posts:
CuriousaboutSamphire · 14/05/2018 08:18

PoisonousSIL does this as part of her job. She is the one who would run an audit on an employees access history had there been an issue raised.

Yes, you can raise an issue if you have reason to believe this has been done for non banking purposes. It is a serious offence, in law not just by banking code.

Your ex would have to be extremely vengeful or stupid to put his job at risk for the sake of nosiness. You are the one who knows him...

Original poster
lhastingsmua · 14/05/2018 08:20

CuriousaboutSamphire, he is absolutely the type of person to do so

OP posts:
Sixgeese · 14/05/2018 08:21

Definitely can at Barclays, I used to work in the investment banking side and my colleagues used to look up their own accounts and friends accounts all the time. Nothing malicious on there side, they were just checking if payments had gone in or out as favours for friends.

I never did, at the time I didn't know anyone who banked there.

sparklefluff · 14/05/2018 08:22

Retail banking for 15 years.

Yes he can. He has to prove a legitimate reason for doing so, but nothing to stop him having a glance or getting a colleague to do so.

His log in will be visible to risk, who monitor staffs keystrokes, so if he looks up anything often, or an account we would have linked to him by association he might get caught doing so. It's pretty lapse though so usually most things just get bypassed sadly.

Op, change provider.

ClaudiaWankleman · 14/05/2018 08:23

It would lead to a recorded complaint. Ex would probably be asked to explain any times they looked at the account. Easy to lie. That would be the end of the matter.

OP I do the monitoring aspect of this for a living. I would change banks.

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 14/05/2018 08:23

ridiculous for me to have to move all my main accounts over just to protect myself from bank staff

In fairness, I don't see how bank staff could do their job without access to customer accounts. It's just unfortunate your ex is working where you bank - it's only a complaint if he has accessed your data, so I would start by asking them to confirm whether he has done so.

gamerwidow · 14/05/2018 08:26

I understand your concerns but it’s not ridiculous really that anyone who works at a bank can access your account. How would restricting access to your account from bank employees even work? You can’t give individual access rights to every employee. How would you be able to measure that everytime an employee accessed an account they were properly authorised to do so? If you walk into a bank they’ll record the fact you were there and they interacted with you but how can you stop people recording that information falsely if they have a mind to? Do you want a second person to stand next to them to oversee that every key stroke they enter is for legitimate reasons or should they ask for ID from you to be scanned at every visit?
The only practical way is to trust your staff but audit their actions in case you do have to check in the event of a complaint which is what they already do.

WalkingOnAFlashlightBeam · 14/05/2018 08:28

Bank staff need to be able to access accounts to do their jobs.

How do you think staff would be able to help you if you rang up with a query about the account if they couldn't access it? Genuine question.

In every line of work there will be people who do dodgy things or break the rules, this is a problem with your ex (if he's found to have done anything, which we don't know yet), not the banking system. You don't have to move your accounts anywhere, you're choosing to so you feel more reassured and comfortable and secure. But if you begin a relationship with someone who works at this new bank and that goes sour you'll be left with the exact same problem.

rodstewartsmerkin · 14/05/2018 08:32

Of course he could.... might be worth flagging with the bank.

Flagging what? He hasn’t done anything Confused

Is there any reason that he’d be that bothered by your bank account?

SoyDora · 14/05/2018 08:35

I am going to make a complaint about this now - so ridiculous that it’s so easy to access

Well it’s not ridiculous that customer accounts are easy for staff to access, he will need to access accounts easily to do his job. Unfortunately they can’t differentiate between the accounts of people he knows and those he doesn’t. So I’m not sure a complaint about him being able to access customer accounts will do any good... he wouldn’t be able to do his job otherwise.

SoyDora · 14/05/2018 08:36

^ x post

LoveProsecco · 14/05/2018 08:38

OP you cannot complain that bank staff can access accounts, as PPs have said that is their role.

However you could enquiry as to whether their systems allow an employee to be blocked from a specific customer's access

Melliegrantfirstlady · 14/05/2018 08:44

Could I ring my bank and ask them to look? Or would I have to start a paper trail?

A relative works for my bank and I’m certain they have looked!

I’d hate them to find out though

Original poster
lhastingsmua · 14/05/2018 08:45

I didn’t mean that they it’s ridiculous that can access accounts, apologies if that was unclear. Obviously they need access to carry out their jobs, but it seems strange that it so simple for staff to access accounts of people that they aren’t assisting and just don’t need to check their accounts.

OP posts:
Violetroselily · 14/05/2018 08:45

I’m not sure a SAR would be helpful here. Even if they could provide you the audit log of who has touched the account, it would have names and log-ins redacted so it wouldn’t be much use to you.

If you genuinely believe he has done it, raise a complaint stating that you think your account has been compromised by a staff member. They will investigate whether he has accessed it and discipline him accordingly.

Storminateapot · 14/05/2018 08:47

I don't think you can complain because you don't know if anything has happened to complain about.

You can write to the bank and say it's come to your attention that X member of staff has potential access to your information and that you have reason to suspect he may have accessed this without your permission. You would like explicit assurance in writing that he has never accessed any of your information and that this will not be possible in the future.

evilharpy · 14/05/2018 08:56

There are good reasons for staff to be able to access accounts. All sorts of (necessary) stuff happens behind the scenes.

Personwithhorse · 14/05/2018 08:57

The reality of modern banking is that banks have huge numbers of accounts and as few staff as they can get away with.

They only care about the wealthy customers, who have personal bankers. It is cheaper to pay an amount of money as an apology than pay for more staff.

It is not such a big deal now, but when people used more cheques signatures were only checked for amounts over £5,000 - again cost/risk ratio