Your bank is obliged to protect your confidential information. This obligation forms part of the Code of Banking Practice, to which all South Africa's major banks subscribe.
A consumer complained to the Banking Adjudicator that her bank gave her estranged husband confidential information about her account, despite having been told not to do so.
The consumer's husband refused to pay for their children's school fees because she had funds in her account.
The woman claimed the amount of the fees from the bank on the basis that her husband would have paid them had he not been told her bank balance. The bank refuted the claim, saying there was no guarantee that he would have paid. In addition, if she had been trying to deceive her husband, the bank could not be party to such a deception.
The bank also said her husband could have obtained the information if he had subpoenaed the bank. The couple was married in community of property, and so there was a single estate and the husband had a right to the information.
The adjudicator did not make an award for the amount that the consumer claimed, but recommended that the bank pay her for the distress and inconvenience caused by its actions, which contravened the Code of Banking Practice.
The account was not a joint account, nor was there a power of attorney or authorisation for the husband to have access to the complainant's account.
The bank prematurely provided information before it was subpoenaed to do so.