BANKING staff have threatened to sue the Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) over an alleged breach of privacy rules.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched its probe over a potential breach of privacy rules after the bank allegedly accessed data from 30,000 staff bank accounts during union pay talks last year.

Banking staff union Accord told the Guardian newspaper it reserved the right to sue the banking group if the ICO found it had breached data rules.

“If the ICO finds that LBG breached data privacy rules, Accord will not hesitate to escalate the matter legally,” the union said.

“We will hold the employer fully to account as Accord will always put members’ interests first.”

Accord also said that if the ICO doesn’t find that data privacy rules were breached, the banking group still needed to learn lessons.

“Lloyds needs to ensure this kind of situation (and the confusion and concern it has caused) is not repeated,” Accord said.

The Lloyds Banking Group also owns the Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands and used aggregated salary, spending and savings data as part of a presentation to staff union representatives.

The bank suggested in the talks that its lowest-paid staff had been in a better financial position than the wider population in recent years.

Since the LBG’s 65,000 staff are encouraged to hold their personal account with Lloyds, it means their financial information may have been accessed without permission.

The ICO has confirmed it is asking questions of Lloyds over whether it may have breached data privacy rules.

An ICO spokesperson said: “We are aware of this incident and are making inquiries with Lloyds Banking Group.”

The ICO carries a number of powers to punish data breaches, including formal reprimands, mandatory audits of data handling, and fines that can be worth up to 4 per cent of a company’s annual turnover.

Lloyds reported a total income of £34 billion for 2024, which means it could face a maximum fine of about £1.36bn.

The pay negotiations led to a £1,200 pay rise for the lowest-paid staff for 2026 and 2027, representing a 7-9 per cent increase over the two years.

The Star asked the LBG to comment on the enquiries being made by the ICO, but they instead focused on the pay agreement reached with the unions.

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said: “Lloyds Banking Group is committed to fair and progressive pay that provides certainty and support for all colleagues, and in this case more junior colleagues. We have worked hard with our unions, using aggregated data and direct colleague input and we are pleased that members of our recognised unions have voted to support our competitive multiyear pay proposal for 2026 and 2027 by a significant majority.”