*There is no special investigation into GTBank, officials, says GTBank
*As Zenith Bank keeps mum
*If found guilty, banks involved should be made to pay hefty price- CACOL
By Motolani Oseni
Due to the importance of data protection, the Federal Government through the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) may soon sanction two of the country’s commercial bank giants, Zenith Bank PLC and GTCO (GTBank) over an allegation of data breach.
The bureau, recently stated that it has opened an investigation into claims of data breach by the lenders, which were triggered by allegations of unlawful disclosure of banking records to a third party and unlawful access and processing of personal data.
Giving details into the investigations, the National Commissioner and CEO, NDPB, Dr Vincent Olatunji, stated that the investigation covers the data governance practice of the banks in all their branches in Nigeria and extends to all third parties carrying out data processing activities.
But while responding to an enquiry by The Daily Times, Head, Corporate Communication and Marketing at GTBank, Oyinade Adegite, explained that the new arm of NDPB were just going round to checkout things and collect data.
According to her, there was no special investigation into the bank or anybody.
“They are just going round to be sure that companies are properly implementing data privacy. So, they have not told us that they are doing special investigation with GTBank.
“I believe that they have gone to some banks, but they haven’t come to GTBank. There’s no special investigation into GTBank, there is nothing like that.”
She, therefore, added that the development is just to make sure that the content ought to get from the customers when logged into the bank’s website are properly done, which is more of ensuring that content policies are been implemented.
“It’s just the standard that you find on most websites today. That we’ve all implemented”, she said.
Meanwhile, efforts to reach the Zenith Bank Plc for its reactions proved abortive as the bank’s spokes person didn’t respond to the enquiry about the development.
Commenting on this development, Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Comrade Debo Adeniran said that data breaching by any trusted organisation is unethical and it is a bad corporate practice on the part of such perpetrators including the banks.
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“It’s an offence and there must be sanction because commercial banks do not have the power to disclose any information submitted and domicile with them in trust by the depositors to the third party.
“If found guilty, the banks involved should be made to pay hefty price for it”, he said.
The bureau, however, had noted that there are concerns that many data privacy and protection regulations and best practices are hardly implemented down the organisational strata of major data controllers in Nigeria.
It is, however, worthy of note that data breach can destroy a business. For instance, reports have shown that 60 per cent of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can shut down within six months if attacked due to data breaching, while larger companies and agencies likely won’t have to shut their doors, but would suffer serious consequences.
To this end, NDPB, therefore, enjoins organisations to heed the federal government circulars and general compliance notice directing them to send the names of their Data Protection Officers/Contacts to the bureau.
“This level of vulnerability to data breach is unacceptable and it can only be addressed through foolproof data security and data privacy measures by data controllers/data processors in the industry,” the NDPB stated.
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