7 May 2008
Statement

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited confirms one of its computer servers went missing on 26 April 2008 at its Kwun Tong Branch, which has been undergoing renovation. The server held transaction data on approximately 159,000 accounts. The data held on the server includes account number, customer name, transaction amount and transaction type. However, the server does not contain any customer PINs, passwords or User IDs.

The server is protected by multiple layers of security. The risk of data leakage and fraudulent transactions resulting from the loss of the server is deemed to be low by the Bank. HSBC has in place fraud monitoring tools that are regularly reviewed.

The Bank is contacting the accountholders involved and has put in place preventative measures to ensure such an incident does not occur again. HSBC takes customer data privacy and security very seriously.

The Bank would like to apologise to customers for any concern this incident may have caused. Customers will not be liable for any financial loss arising from any fraudulent activities.

The loss of the server has been reported to the Police, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data. The Bank is cooperating with these authorities regarding their enquiries.

Customers with concerns about this incident should contact HSBC's customer hotline on 2748 3322.