Nedbank Loss Of Client Personal Information

I have been informed via a rather unsatisfactory "matter of fact"/"it's no big deal" toned email that Nedbank have lost my personal information which is an unforgivable negligence which ever way one looks at it and whether or not it was via Nedbank's own systems or via one of their service providers.

The whole handling of this has been unsatisfactory and the positive spin Nedbank are trying to put on this i.e. "we found it ourselves", "we immediately disconnected our service provider from the internet" (interpretation - we closed the door after the horse has bolted), "we didn't lose any of your money" etc, is just pathetic. The fact is Nedbank did worse than lose my money. Nedbank has lost/compromised my personal information which should it be abused/lead to the theft of my identity could cause me years and years of hassles and troubles. I would have preferred if Nedbank had just lost some of my money because then the loss would be exactly known and could be dealt with immediately in terms of compensation etc. and it would be a short term issue that would be soon over. Loss of my personal information, should it lead to theft of my identity or ********** impersonation of me, is a forever issue with potentially severe consequences. The Nedbank press release something to the effect that Nedbank will take responsibility if it is proven that a client suffers identity theft due to Nedbank losing their personal information is just hot air for cheap PR effect. It will be nigh impossible for any client to prove that a future theft of their identity was because of Nedbank losing their personal information. Sadly there will be so many "easy outs" for the bank on that issue it is certain those who had their information lost by Nedbank will be on their own dealing with the aftermath. The whole PR spin Nedbank are putting on this data breach shows that they don't really take customer data seriously enough and certainly no where near as seriously as money which they should. "Don't worry it's okay we didn't lose any of your money" and "it wasn't actually us but one of our service providers" simply isn't a satisfactory attitude from Nedbank. For me, it's Nedbank end of story. I gave you my personal data, not your service provider who I never even heard of before this incident. You gave it to someone else without my permission who lost it and I don't want to hear you tell me that it was them and not you. It's Nedbank.

Further, I do not ever recall giving Nedbank permission to give my data to mickey mouse, or any, marketing service providers. What was Nedbank thinking when they allowed my data to be handed over to another party not required for the actual business I signed up with Nedbank for i.e. internet banking. Direct marketing is not at all part of the banking facilities I signed up for and Nedbank had no business giving my personal information to such a 3rd party. In fact, in July 2019 I raised a specific complaint with Nedbank about your direct marketing and requested I be removed from it, this in effect being removal of any permission to use my information for marketing that Nedbank thought they might have from me. Although Nedbank "switched it off" and I stopped getting hassled by direct marketing messages, clearly Nedbank did not remove me from that system nor take my personal information back from the 3rd party service provider as Nedbank ought to have. If Nedbank had done so, I would not now be in the position of having my personal information ****** via Nedbank's direct marketing.

For a big 4 SA bank to lose clients personal information is outrageous negligence. The way Nedbank have sought to downplay and "spin" the incident is highly unbecoming of a bank and inspires little confidence in the bank going forward. More and better answers are required from Nedbank management and there needs to be consequence in Nedbank for those who caused this totally unacceptable loss of client information. Better, more convincing plans and support need to be offered/put in place for affected clients who end up with their identities being ******.