Personal data belonging to 550 AIB customers mislaid two weeks ago has been found, a spokesman for the bank confirmed. The information on a spread sheet was lost last month by an employee when travelling between branches in Galway.
It is understood the spread sheet was handed in to a businesssman in Galway city on Thursday August 31st, the day it went missing, but that he did not recognise its significance until this week when he heard media reports.
He handed the spreadsheet in to an AIB branch in Galway city on Tuesday.
Prior to that AIB had contacted the 550 customers in Galway city and county by phone and letter on the matter. It had told them some confidential information relating to their accounts was on the spread sheet but not their addresses or contact details.
It apologised for what had happened and assured people that their funds could not be accessed by anyone who may have found the spread sheet.
In a statement today the bank said: “The mislaid documentation was located on the evening of the 12th September when a business owner in Galway contacted AIB to inform us the documentation was handed in to his premises on the day it was mislaid.
“All information has been retrieved. The Data Protection Commissioner has been informed. Customer contact commenced yesterday and is well advanced.”
Last Tuesday it confirmed publicly that “some confidential information relating to the banking facilities of a number of customers was mislaid on Thursday August 31st in Galway.”
It said that “AIB has contacted all impacted customers to explain the matter and to apologise unreservedly.”
It added that AIB takes its data protection obligations "very seriously" and said it bank had reported the incident to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.
Today an AIB spokesman responded “no comment”, when asked whether the episode would have implications for the employee who lost the spread sheet on August 31st.
