By Kenny Chee

A TECHNICAL glitch at Swiss bank UBS gave its wealthy customers in Singapore and Hong Kong a shock last week when they logged on to their online accounts.

The private-banking clients found confidential details of other clients' bank statements and account information instead of their own. Clients' online accounts, though, do not indicate their names.

When contacted, a UBS spokesman confirmed the incident and said the bank was taking it very seriously.

Asked how many clients were affected, all she said was that 'some limited account information concerning a small number of UBS wealth-management clients was accessible by a very limited number of other system users'. She added that fewer than five accessed the information.

She told my paper the glitch occurred 'as a result of an inadvertent technical error following an information-technology system upgrade over the weekend of Feb 21'.

The bank immediately took steps to rectify the issue. UBS reviewed the circumstances leading to the incident and has implemented measures to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.

The bank also reported the incident to the banking authorities here and in Hong Kong: the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

Asked about what MAS would be doing, its spokesman said that 'we are following up with the bank', but did not elaborate.

The HKMA said it is 'following up with the bank on any impact... and the remedial measures that should be taken'.

Its spokesman added: 'We have requested the bank to submit an investigation report to the HKMA and will examine the matter in detail once the report is available.'

Mr Tan Teik Guan, chief executive of Data Security Systems Solutions, said such accidental leaks of confidential information could lead to 'embarrassing situations for clients and reputation risks for banks'.

'Intentional leakages are more serious as the data... (could be) used for more malicious activities,' he said.

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