A typical Fidelity Bank Branch Office
Leading Nigerian banking giant, Fidelity Bank Plc has swiftly reacted to a claim by the NDPC bordering on breach of customer data protection rights saying “Our attention has been drawn to a news story titled, ‘NDPC Fines Fidelity Bank for Data Breach’.
The bank averred that “While the matter is a subject of an ongoing engagement with the regulator, we wish to assure the public that we have conducted ourselves to the highest ethical standards by ensuring full compliance with extant laws on data protection.
“Below is a breakdown of our dealings with the NDPC since we received their letter informing us about an alleged data breach:
- On April 30th, 2023, we received a notice of investigation from the Nigerian Data Protection Agency (NDPA), now the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC). The investigation was in respect of a complaint from [name has been withheld to protect the identity of the complainant] who claimed that [name withheld] details were used to open an account in the bank without [name withheld] consent.
- Based on this notice, we conducted an internal investigation into the circumstances around the claim and discovered as follows:
*An account opening request was received online in the name of [name withheld], and an email was sent to the email address attached to the request informing them about this.
*In compliance with our Data Protection policy, accounts created online without full documentation are not allowed to be operational and are closed after 30 days if the outstanding documents are not provided to authenticate the identity of the person seeking to open the account.
*In compliance with our data protection laws, the account was not allowed to be operational as the passport photograph and BVN were not provided.
*The account was immediately placed on “Post No Debit” status as the applicant was expected to complete the account opening process by providing the outstanding documents for verification within 30 days. This was not done, and the account was eventually closed.
*On May 2nd 2023, we responded to the NDPC that the bank did not violate any law because there was no data breach and that the account opening process was not completed. On our part, we carried out due diligence by immediately blocking the account and subsequently closing the account when we did not receive the outstanding documents.
*At no point in the process was the account ever operational.
*On July 7th, 2023, we were invited for a Pre-Action meeting with NDPC. During the meeting, we restated our position as earlier communicated to them in our letter dated May 2nd.
*However, despite our explanation and evidence provided to support our claim, the agency informed us that they had reached a conclusion to impose a penalty on the bank.
*On 5th December of 2023, we got a letter from NDPC demanding we pay a ‘remedial fee’ of N250 million within 21 days.
*We immediately commenced another round of engagements with the Commission as we were convinced, we had not breached any extant law or regulation.
*While discussions were still ongoing with the NDPC, we received another letter on the 20th of August demanding that we now pay N555.8m naira.
*As a responsible financial organization with a history of strong corporate governance standards, we remain committed to the due process of the law, and we wish to assure all our customers of our unwavering commitment to upholding the highest level of ethical standards in all our dealings with customer data.
Fidelity Bank accordingly made it clear that “Our commitment to strong corporate governance has earned us local and international recognition, including the prestigious CG+ award. This is the highest rank under the Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) of the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), which evaluates listed companies against established best practices and standards.
The statement signed by Meksley Nwagboh, Divisional Head, Brand & Communications
Fidelity Bank Plc and made available to Business Hilights concluded that “As a Bank, we remain in discussions with the NDPC over an amicable resolution to this matter.”
Recall that trouble had started following investigations into violations of Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, 2019, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has ordered Fidelity Bank PLC to pay a sum of sum of N555,800, only, being 0.1% of the Bank’s annual gross revenue in 2023. This is to be paid within 14 days upon the receipt of the Notice.
A statement issued by the Commission averred that “The investigation into the data processing activities of Fidelity Bank PLC was triggered by a complaint from a data subject whose personal data was collected without lawful basis for the purposes of opening an account for the data subject. This complaint was lodged with the Commission in April 2023.
“The Commission reviewed the data processing platforms of Fidelity Bank and found that in certain critical cases, the Bank processes personal data without informed consent of data subjects. Data processing tools such as cookies and banking apps were deployed in violation of the NDP Act. Its banking App at the material time had been downloaded over one million times.
Apart from internal non-compliance, the Bank relies on some non-compliant third-party data processors. The law not only enjoins an organization to be compliant, it also mandates its relevant vendors, agents or contractors, among others to be accountable when handling personal data of individuals.
