London – The Bank of England said it was “reprehensible” that Bloomberg News had allowed its journalists to see data about how clients used its system, in one of the toughest assessments yet of the breach of user data at the media company.
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“The protection of confidential information is vital here at the bank. What seems to have happened at Bloomberg is reprehensible,” a Bank of England spokesman said on Tuesday.
“Bank officials are in close contact with Bloomberg, who have provided assurances to ensure that this does not happen again. We will also be liaising with other central banks on this matter.”
Bloomberg did not immediately respond to a request for a comment about the Bank of England’s statement.
Several central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, have said they are examining the use of data by Bloomberg, which competes with Thomson Reuters.
The Bank of England spokesman declined to comment when asked whether the central bank was concerned about any specific data which had been used by Bloomberg reporters.
Matthew Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, apologized on Monday for allowing journalists “limited” access to sensitive data about how clients used Bloomberg terminals, saying it was “inexcusable”, but that important customer data had always been protected.
The practice of giving reporters access to some data considered proprietary, including when a customer looked into broad categories such as equities or bonds, came to light in media reports last week.