Barclays has told its consumers that it will begin selling “information about the transactions on [their] account” to third parties come this autumn, according to The Telegraph.
Barclays maintains that customer data will be “high level” and will never allow a consumer to become identifiable.
“We only use information in a numerical, anonymised and aggregated way as is standard practice at many companies,” the bank said in a statement.
“This information is numerical and not personal, and you will never be identifiable on the basis of it,” Barclays’ summary of changes reads.
According to the summary, Barclays can pull information from interactions it has with consumers on social media or via mobile devices, and can “change the way we contact you” in response to the data it collects. Barclays can also use and hold images of customers, as well as customer voice recordings.
In addition to its data-selling program, Barclays will also begin tracking mobile devices to help protect consumers from fraud. The bank will “ping” customers if they make a mobile transaction from a foreign country, according to the report.
“Mobile location data will be used for fraud prevention purposes only and therefore only on the occasions where this is a transaction on a customer’s account that has been picked up by our fraud detection systems,” the bank said.
The Telegraph notes that Barclays’ new conditions will cover all 15 million of their current and savings account holders. Customers have the option of opting out of the mobile program, but not the new data-sharing rules.
Read the full story here.
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