Helsingin Sanomat reports today that one of the big three banks in Finland, Sampo, is recording conversations between the staff and the customer without the customer knowing it. This is very disturbing in my opinion.

Why? Because you build trust in banks as an institution that is loyal to its customers and respects them – apparently they don’t. Would you trust someone enough to give them your life savings to watch over when they breach your privacy? Secondly, what if these conversations got stolen or accidentally lost? Then they’d be in the wild for anybody with a bit of interest in your financial issues to listen to.

The really sad thing about this is that the lawyer from Finnish Financial Supervision organisation, Harri Hirvi, thinks that as long as the tapes stay inside a closed group there should be no problems. My jaw dropped open when I read this. With this quote, he basically accepts “illegal” activity in the financial markets as long as it stays undercover and nobody knows about this.

When I was in Australia, most companies recorded their conversations with customers when you would call them. The difference is, they told you in the beginning of the call before you were connected to anybody that your call was used for training purposes. I didn’t like this too much either, but at least they let me know! You could always avoid the call and walk to their office to ask about things.

Word of advice: Do stay interested in your privacy rights – otherwise we’ll end up like this guy.

Update: And the news just in – Sampo has decided to stop recording conversations due to customer complaints.