Banks selling telecom plans based on customer spending: Is it legal?

Belfius Bank is analyzing customer spending habits to offer commercial products from partner companies, such as telecom subscriptions from Proximus. This practice, also employed by other banks, has prompted questions from customers regarding privacy and data usage. While it may seem intrusive, banks are legally allowed to analyze customer transactions for such purposes, provided they have obtained explicit consent from the customer.

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A bank may - like anyone else - only do certain things if they have a valid reason for it.

The issue came to light when a listener's mother-in-law was approached by a Belfius bank employee with a proposal for a cheaper Proximus mobile plan, based on her current spending. This raised concerns about how the bank accessed this information, leading to questions about whether bank employees were sifting through customer transaction data.

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A bank employee analyzing transactions to then sell commercial products from external partners goes quite far.

Privacy expert Kris Seyen explained that banks, like any other entity, require a valid reason to access customer data. Processing data to execute banking services is standard, but analyzing transactions to sell external commercial products goes a step further. Seyen suggested that such offers are likely generated through automated computer analysis rather than individual employee snooping.

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The only way I see something like this being allowed is if you, as a customer, have given your consent.

Belfius Bank confirmed its policy, stating that they check customer privacy preferences before making commercial offers. The bank asserts that they only proceed if the customer has given consent. This highlights the critical role of customer consent in enabling banks to leverage financial data for marketing purposes, even when partnering with third-party companies.

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Before we make commercial proposals to our customers, Belfius Bank checks the customer's privacy preferences.