BANK OF Ireland is carrying out an investigation after it sent credit card statements to the wrong customers last week. The bank has apologised for the error.

The bank confirmed that it was investigating a technical error which led to a batch of credit card statements being posted to the wrong customers on June 19th.

The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority and the Data Protection Commissioner have been notified of the error. The bank said initial inquiries have shown that about 1,250 credit card customers “may have received single or multiple pages from the statement of another Bank of Ireland credit card customer”. The bank said some of these customers may also have received incomplete credit card statements. It blamed the error on “a technical malfunction when sorting credit card statements”.

The bank has written to the affected customers and issued their correct statements.

“While the risk of fraud to the affected credit card holders is extremely low, the bank wishes to assure customers that they will be fully reimbursed should any fraudulent transactions be perpetrated on an account as a result of this error,” the bank said.

A spokesman for the Data Protection Commissioner said it was told about the error last Friday. He said the commissioner was still investigating the theft of four laptops from Bank of Ireland which contained personal details on 31,500 customers, and that he expected the inquiry to be completed “imminently”. The details included dates of birth, account details and medical histories.

The bank learned of the thefts, which occurred between June and October of last year, in February, and contacted the commissioner in April. The bank said last month that it was investigating the theft of another laptop from its branch in Newbridge, Co Kildare, in 2001.