First Republic Bank has been notifying clients after records containing their information were improperly disposed of on August 2.
In its letter to clients, Maureen Maginn, Senior Vice President of Deposit Services, wrote:
… on August 2, 2012, certain data were discarded in a way that did not adhere to our strict data disposal requirements. This data included client names, account types and numbers and tax payer identification/social security numbers. While we do not have any indication that your data, or any data, have been compromised in any way, we want to make you aware of this so that we can take steps together to ensure continued protection of your account(s). We have also enhanced our controls regarding the protection of client data.
The bank has flagged all the affected accounts to monitor them for unusual activity.
Although the letter did not indicate how many accounts were affected, the incident was reported to California’s Attorney General. Under California’s law, breaches affecting 500 or more are reported to that agency.