A theft of data by a former employee may affect up to 24,000 Swiss client accounts, HSBC Geneva has announced.
The bank had previously claimed that "less than 10 clients" were affected when it was revealed last year that a former IT employee had stolen account data and subsequently handed it over to the French authorities. The same employee has reportedly also offered to sell the data to Germany for 2.5 million euros. If Germany had access to the data - a real possibility given its Finance Minister's recent statement that Germany was prepared to pay for stolen data - it has been estimated that up to 100 million euros could be recovered by the German authorities.
The news is a further blow to the reputation of Switzerland's flagship banking sector and has provoked international controversy as to the morality and the legality of state use of stolen property to identify tax evaders.
