Insurance giant fined for exposing customers to fraud

UK life insurer Norwich Union was hit with a £1.26m (€1.8m) fine today after a failure to protect customers’ confidential details exposed almost seven million people to fraud.

Norwich Union Life was hit with the penalty after fraudsters netted £3.3m (€4.6m) using publicly-available data such as names and dates of birth to gain customer-sensitive information from its call centres.

The criminals used the details to cash in the policies of 74 customers. Norwich Union Life has 6.8 million UK customers.

Financial Services Authority enforcement director Margaret Cole said: “Norwich Union Life let down its customers by not taking reasonable steps to keep their personal and financial information safe and secure.”