to wonder if bank staff can access your accounts?

[lhastingsmua]

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?

*I mean everyone who had ever accessed any account

I work in financial services by the way.

Used to work in a bank. Yes, he technically could but it's a sackable offence.

Yes I suspect they can, this happened to me although not a bank, my ex worked for a phone company and looked up my new address and turned up.

For those who work in banks, is there not a way for IT to block your access to certain accounts?

I work in council tax and I can't access any address I've lived at or any address a relative lives at. It is dependent on me declaring those addresses to IT each year but surely any account held at an employee's home address could easily be identified and blocked ?

As others have said, there will be an audit trail if he's accessed your accounts and then if flagged up, he'd have to explain why he'd done it. So you've done the right thing complaining as now they'll have to check. When I worked for a major bank many years ago, some staff were dismissed because they had accessed the accounts of well known footballers who banked with us. I think those accounts were checked for unauthorised access because of their high profile nature, but the same rule would apply to anyone - it's a question of prompting the bank to look at the audit trail.

I'd move banks. Never mind it being a sackable offence - I think people would be very surprised if they knew how many people stick their nose into other people's records just because they can. When it's info about someone they know, they can't resist it.

Never underestimate the power of nosiness, being a gossip, and at times spite. If you know you can look at someone's medical/financial etc record and leave no footprint then if that way inclined yeah you'll look.

A friend worked at BT Telephone Exchange years ago - people would eavesdrop on friends and family's convos all the time. Including the supervisor. I've known of 1 or 2 instances where a GP receptionist has hinted so heavily about someone's medical info that it's easy to work out who it is.

& yes - if you work in a bank of course you can look up people's account info. Why wouldn't you be able to?

I worked in local authority Housing for donkeys years we could look up all sorts of info about someone if so inclined. I heard rumours people used to do it. & as a department data protection & quality assurance was really important..none of that stops nosey bods tho

Change banks OP

OP in your position I'd change banks if you are sure that he is in a retail customer service role (if he's not then he probably doesn't have access) - it is a sackable offence and extremely unprofessional to look up account details without a business reason, and this is drummed into staff so very few people would do it. However if your Ex is enough of a dick not to care about professional ethics or losing his job, your only protection is to move your accounts

You should complain about the member of staff on live chat who flat-out lied to you.

It's really not true that if he's not in a retail customer service role he won't have access.

It completely depends on your role as to whether you have access. I didn’t, as I had absolutely no need to access customers accounts (I worked in Marketing). DH does, despite not being in a customer focussed role, as he deals with fraud. Not everyone will have access, but more than just customer facing retail staff will.

Yes it is true. You don't get access to systems you don't need for your role - all part of the 'need to know' principle.

Don't hang around waiting for Barclays to reply, start moving your accounts now.

You say you have an ISA, they are so simple to transfer nowdays, it takes seconds online and I bet you can find a bettter interest rate too.

Get a new credit card and just stop using your current one.

Thingveller - I've had access to full details for every single client for the last 7 years and have never seen a client and probably never will. It's necessary for my role but I don't work in customer services/retail/anything customer facing. Customers wouldn't even know I existed.

Yes it is part of the ‘need to know’ principle, but there are many more people who need to know than just those who have front line customer facing roles.

I used to work in a bank and you could look at the accounts of anybody who banked with you - and I was very junior at the time (just left school).

I worked with someone who did this. He was caught looking up the account of someone he knew and was sacked.

Even if he has looked at your files, how will you ever find out? (Apart from finding him peering in your window, obvs)....

To all those who work in a bank

How do you get your bank to look at your audit trail?

Is it easy to do

I work for one of the big banks.

Yes we can
Yes people do
No we are not allowed to without legitimate reasons.
Yes people look up celebratory accounts.
Yes it could result in instant dismissal
There is a record of every log number that accesses an account and why.

However, no one really actively searches. There are random audits, and any complaints could warrant an investigation.

Barclays have told you that as reassurance. It is very very simple to do.

As for cross access. Only if the bank was connected. In some way. I.e when Halifax and bank of Scotland merged, they used the same system.

I’d move banks if you’re concerned.

Melliegrant

Make a complaint to the bank in question, report that you have suspicions that someone has accessed your accounts without a legitimate reason.

Yeh but then they’d want to know who and might tell said person who works there that I asked?

I’d want to avoid that!

Move banks, as everyone has said very easily accessed.

I think you have done the right thing in asking them to check if your account has been accessed by him - if he has they will most likely sack him, although whether they tell you he has or not is a different story.

You may not have to move everything. I worked at the bank in credit cards a few years ago, and although it may be changed now, we could only access credit card accounts, not personal accounts or isa’s.

This must be worrying for you.
I ended up reporting someone who would try and find famous people’s accounts, it really was an invasion of privacy.

For those who work in banks, is there not a way for IT to block your access to certain accounts?

I work in council tax and I can't access any address I've lived at or any address a relative lives at. It is dependent on me declaring those addresses to IT each year but surely any account held at an employee's home address could easily be identified and blocked ?

Yes - but it's not as easy as council tax. I don't know who any of my friends bank with. I wouldn't hand over all my contacts just in case - there would be a host of data protection issues there, too. So from an admin point of view, it's easier to manage to tell everyone not to handle friends and family and them risk being sacked if they do and are found out.

Having worked for two different banks - yes he can. I'm not sure about branch but call centre bank staff can bypass security and enter someone else's account. This could be to do admin work like set up and cancel direct debits etc and mainly all above board. It's all monitored and recorded and management would get a report to give the details of the accounts accessed throughout the day along with staffs log on details.

Of course Branch staff can access accounts, they are customer facing! And they can access accounts that are domiciled at any branch, not just their own.