Fidelity Bank affirms commitment to data protection, corporate governance
The management of Fidelity Bank has affirmed its full commitment to data protection and corporate governance.
A statement by Meksley Nwagboh, Divisional Head, Brand & Communications, assured the public that the financial institution adheres to the highest ethical standards by ensuring full compliance with extant laws on data protection.
The official also gave a breakdown of Fidelity Bank’s dealings with the NDPC since it received the letter informing of alleged data breach.
Nwagboh said on April 30th, 2023, there was a notice of investigation from the Nigerian Data Protection Agency (NDPA), now Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC), in respect of a complaint who claimed that own details were used to open an account in the bank without consent.
“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,” he noted.
“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. 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.
“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 by the spokesperson added that Fidelity Bank remains in discussions with the NDPC over an amicable resolution to the matter.
Fidelity Bank affirms commitment to data protection, corporate governance
