Lloyds Banking Group is facing intense scrutiny from a powerful parliamentary committee after a significant data breach allowed some customers to view other users' financial transactions via their banking app last week.
The incident has prompted the Treasury Committee to demand immediate answers from the high street giant.
Dame Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Treasury Committee, has formally written to Charlie Nunn, the group chief executive, seeking comprehensive details.
Her letter, explicitly headed "improper disclosure of individuals’ account information," requests information on the number of customers affected, the expected compensation payouts, and the precise nature of the sensitive data that became visible.
Highlighting the gravity of the situation, Dame Meg stated: "On the face of it, this is an alarming breach of data confidentiality. In the interests of transparency, I would welcome a set of responses from Lloyds Banking Group related to this troubling incident."
The committee has also set a timeline for further disclosures. Within one month, Lloyds is expected to provide an initial assessment of whether any customers have fallen victim to financial crime as a direct result of the information exposed.
A more detailed account, including a full description of how the incident occurred and the preventative steps taken, has been requested within six months.
On 12 March, some customers using Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Halifax apps reported that they were able to see information related to other people’s accounts through their banking app.
Customers said they could see transactions unrelated to them such as direct debits, wages, cash withdrawals, and some national insurance numbers related to payments.
One woman told the Press Association last week of her shock to find that she was “looking at someone else’s life” when she logged into her banking app.
Last March, the committee found that nine of the top banks had accumulated at least 33 days’ worth of outages over the preceding two years.
A Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) spokesperson said last week that it was in contact with Lloyds to understand what had happened and how it was being resolved.
The FCA spokesperson said previously: “We expect firms to protect customer data and be able to respond to and quickly recover from disruptions.”
Lloyds has previously apologised to customers and said it was looking into what had happened.
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