From 6 April, the ICO will be handed new powers to issue fines for reckless breaches of the Data Protection Act principles.
The ICO has pressed strongly for monetary penalties where the Data Protection Act has been knowingly or recklessly breached.
Organisations that fail to take reasonable steps to prevent serious breaches will see the current maximum fine of £5,000 increase to £500,000.
Emma Dimbylow, head of compliance at Optima Legal, commented: “Though lenders are taking data protections issues very seriously, news headlines over the last 12 months are testament to the fact that breaches do still happen. The ICO has promised to take a pragmatic and proportionate approach to issuing monetary penalties to an organisation, but this announcement should act as a warning to all lenders to ensure their data protection policies are water tight.”
