Got some money in a Swiss bank account? Well if you’re with HSBC, you better make sure it’s still there because an estimated 24,000 clients of HSBC Private Bank in Switzerland have had personal details stolen. The data theft occured three years ago and the bank conceeded last week that the number is “highly likely” to include British customers.

The data is on 15,000 live accounts and 9,000 defunct ones and was allegedly stolen by Hervé Falciani, a former IT employee. HSBC first learnt of a data breach in December 2008 and reacted by spending £62.3 million upgrading the security of its systems. A Financial Services Authority (FSA) investigation found that “large amounts of unencrypted customer details” had been taken from the systems and delivered to 3rd parties by post or courier. If you’re worried, contact your HSBC relationship manager.

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