Lloyds to review use of anonymised staff bank account data in union pay talks

Lloyds Banking Group chief executive Charlie Nunn has told staff that the bank is investigating its controversial decision to use anonymised, aggregated employee account data during pay negotiations. At a recent town hall meeting for the bank's 64,000 employees, Nunn admitted the move had caused significant concern and confirmed that an internal review is underway to determine future changes. 

The investigation follows a presentation to union representatives where Lloyds utilised aggregated spending, savings, and salary data from its 30,000 staff accounts. This data was used to argue that the bank's lowest-paid workers were in a stronger financial position than the general public. While Nunn maintained that the activity was a "legal use case of using aggregated data for a relevant business outcome" and claimed that unions were originally comfortable with it, the union Accord has since contested this. In a newsletter to its members, Accord stated that it may take legal action if the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) determines that a violation of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) occurred.

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