Fergie's Tech Blog

Swiss Banks Broke Privacy Laws Over SWIFT Transfers

Via OUT-LAW.com.

Swiss banks broke the law by passing customer bank details to US authorities, Switzerland's top data protection official has said. The banks should have told customers that international transaction company SWIFT was passing details to the US, he said.

Hanspeter Thür, the Federal Data Protection Commissioner of Switzerland, said that the banks broke data protection laws when they failed to inform customers that information was being transferred.

SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) manages international payments between banks and has allowed US authorities to have access to transaction details since the terrorist attacks in the US of 11th September 2001.

posted by Fergie @ 10/17/2006 10:51:00 AM