Investigation into ING Belgium after complaints about monitoring employee emails

Authorities in Belgium have opened an investigation into the Belgian branch of ING. The investigation follows a complaint from a labor union, which accused the bank of accessing email communications from some 2,000 employees.

The specialized department that handles labor-related cases did not want to give further details about the ongoing investigation. The department, which is part of the office of the Public Prosecution Service in Brussels, confirmed the existence of the investigation to the Belga news agency.

The Labor Prosecutor’s Office is the specialized department of the Belgian Public Prosecutor’s Office that deals with matters relating to labor law. The socialist trade union, BBTK, recently announced that it had filed criminal complaints against ING Belgium, the company’s CEO in Belgium, Peter Adams, and Isabel Carrion, its head of human resources.

Part of the union’s claims include accusations that the bank viewed e-mail traffic from hundreds of employees following the dismissal of a BBTK member. That worker was alleged to have leaked sensitive information.

ING denied the accusations against the bank in April, when the first reports about it surfaced. “We have not given instructions to view e-mail traffic and no analysis has been made of this e-mail traffic,” said a spokesperson. ING emphasized that it considers privacy to be very important.