The Finance Sector Union (FSU) have called for ‘right to know’ legislation that would require customers to consent to their personal financial data being sent overseas in a submission to the Senate Standing committee on Environment, Communication and the Arts.

The submission contained four recommendations for the Committee’s inquiry into Keeping Jobs from Going Offshore (Protection of Personal Information) Bill, including:

• a call for investigating the full range of impacts off-shoring has on the community,
• a need for better data on the subject of off-shoring,
• a call for legislation requiring customers are told where the staff member they are speaking to is physically located, and
• a call for legislation requiring that customers must give their permission before their personal data is sent overseas.

FSU National Secretary, Leon Carter, said that FSU members are under very real pressures in terms of job security and also to meet service demands when positions are sent offshore.

“The truth about Off-shoring is that it makes bank workers jobs harder and compromises the services ustomers get from their bank.

“Banks use off-shoring to cut costs and increase their bottom lines, but it actually has a detrimental effect on service capacity.

“At a bare minimum customers should know when their personal data is being transferred overseas and have the right to insist that their most private of financial details are kept in Australia and constrained by Australian privacy laws.

In the FSU’s recent Better Banking survey 90% of the public and 93% of workers wanted a commitment from Government and banks to stop off-shoring. 87% of respondents believe Government should require banks to let Australians know when their personal financial data is being sent overseas.

“It is very clear that both the public and bank workers don’t like off-shoring and they don’t want it. “We encourage the Committee to fully investigate the many negative impacts off-shoring has, and support legislation to protect Australia’s financial data being sent offshore without customer
knowledge,” said Mr Carter.

Ends

More information on the survey is available at www.better-banking.org

Spokesperson: Leon Carter, 0409 946 597
Media: Anaya Latter, 0432 121 636