Banking Review

Breached and beached?

Privacy breaches by professional contact centre operators left many
bank customers high and dry in a recent test of privacy security.

BY PETER GRIST

Privacy and security concerns remain a critical issue for banks as more people manage their finances via the internet and mobile phones.

However, new research has found many contact centre operators are unaware of the details of the banks’ privacy and security policies and, in many instances, actually advised callers how to breach those policies.

The independent study, the pilot of a larger, future study, was conducted as a joint initiative by customer experience benchmarking firm, Global Reviews, and privacy specialists, Information Integrity Solutions. It conducted 160 calls to eight major banks during the first three weeks of November. Each call was assessed across 25 objective criteria to determine compliance with bank policies, the National Privacy Principles and the customer experience of the call.

In 50 per cent of cases, contact centre operators advised callers to breach their own privacy and security policies. In one scenario, our callers sought to access their boyfriend or girlfriend’s account. While no banks allowed callers to access their partner’s account, many advised that if the caller had their partner’s access details, they could transfer money via phone or internet banking. This was in clear contravention of the bank’s privacy and security policies, which contact centre operators acknowledged by informing callers that this was not something they were supposed to do.

“Given the high regard in which banks generally hold the National Privacy Principles we were surprised by the poor response,” says Information Integrity Solutions managing director, and former Australian privacy commissioner Malcolm Crompton. “Clearly there is a need for more training and development in this area.”

One major bank discouraged callers from reverting to phone or internet banking in more than 80 per cent of cases, while other banks told more than two-thirds of callers to access their partner’s account by phone or internet banking. Only 25 per cent of callers were told legitimate ways to access their partner’s account, such as by being added as a joint account holder.

In another scenario, contact centre operators were asked to explain how a complaint could be made about a suspected breach of privacy.

Contrary to good privacy practice, only one of the eight banks tested provided a name and phone number for making a complaint and only one other bank explained the complaints process. The industry average for criteria relating to the provision of a contact name, details and the process was less than three per cent.

Resolution process on hold
Less than 10 per cent of all calls were satisfactorily resolved with complete information provided. Where information was provided, it often involved reference to complex policies. In less than a third of cases, jargon and policies were referred to without being explained. Nearly every call was put on hold before being answered.

ANZ Bank lead the benchmark overall ahead of Westpac and ING Direct. ANZ was the leading bank in dealing with callers seeking to access their friend’s account with a score of 62 per cent against an industry average of 50 per cent. NAB lead the scenario relating to online security and lodging a privacy complaint. NAB’s strength was the attitude of its operators, who appeared unfazed by questions relating to privacy and had the lowest rate of placing customers on hold.

Operators appeared more uncomfortable with conversations relating to privacy than general banking enquiries.

“We were surprised to see such a different outcome to our usual benchmarking. When the conversation turns to privacy, many contact centre agents become uncomfortable and customer engagement declines. This research highlights how the operator’s desire to help a customer often overrides the need to maintain the customer’s privacy,” says Global Reviews operations manager Lisa Farrugia.

Peter Grist is Managing Partner of customers experience benchmarking firm Global Reviews.