Commissioner’s Findings - PIPEDA Case Summary #2009-024: Bank Disclosed Personal Information without Consent
A married couple applied for a joint mortgage. The husband alleged that a bank mortgage specialist disclosed his account information to his wife without his consent during the application process. The bank argued there was implicit consent given the joint mortgage application. The Assistant Commissioner found that the bank did not make a reasonable effort to inform the couple of the purposes for which their financial information would be disclosed to each other. Therefore, the bank did not have meaningful consent for the disclosure. Although the incident was a one-time error by an employee, the complaint was found to be well-founded and resolved as the bank had adopted reasonable practices.
- 1Whether the bank had the husband's implicit or explicit consent to disclose his account information to his wife
- 2Whether the bank made a reasonable effort to inform the couple of the purposes for which their financial information would be disclosed
- 3Whether the bank's mortgage specialist followed the bank's usual practice for informing joint mortgage applicants
- 4Whether the presumption of implied consent remained reasonable after the wife's reaction to the initial disclosure
- Consent for disclosure: Bank did not have meaningful consent
- Complaint finding: Complaint well-founded
- Resolution of complaint: Resolved due to bank's adopted practices
Complaint well-founded and resolved
The bank failed to make a reasonable effort to ensure the couple understood the purposes of information disclosure, meaning consent was not meaningful. However, the bank had adopted reasonable practices and the incident was a one-time error, leading to a resolved outcome.
- Principle 4.3 PIPEDA
- Principle 4.3.2 PIPEDA
- Principle 4.3.5 PIPEDA
This summary is informational only and not legal advice.
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