The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is conducting an audit of Halifax Bank of Scotland's (HBOS) data security procedures after it was revealed that the bank was putting customers' financial documents in ordinary bins.

The act, uncovered by the BBC's Watchdog programme, is in breach of an undertaking to the ICO signed by HBOS earlier this year after it was found throwing out documents containing customer details.

Watchdog reporters said they found torn up bank statements which revealed customer names and account numbers and a complete, untorn cheque for nearly £1,700 in a bin outside a branch of Halifax.

HBOS apologised in a statement. "We're very sorry for any inconvenience we've caused. All of the relevant authorities, including the Information Commissioner and Financial Services Authority (FSA), were informed immediately.

"We process over 100 million transactions through our branch network every year. This incident, which is clearly regrettable, needs to be viewed within that context. Following the approach from Watchdog, we're reviewing our procedures again," said the bank. (source)

The dumping of customers financial documents has nothing to do with processing, it is to do with a lack of care, a lack of due diligence in securing customer data, which could make Halifax (HBOS) an enabler of ID fraud.

We await the ICO’s report with interest. The fight to deprive the fraudsters of their source material must go on.