HSBC is working to identify all of the customers affected by the June 19 loss of 25,000 calls - many of which were regarding sensitive account information. The bank said it will contact those clients in the next day or two. Edmond Tang

HSBC Executive Director Peter Wong said the bank has ceased using courier services to ship customer information.

The move, announced Friday on the sideline of the Hong Kong Association of Banks meeting, followed a Thursday announcement that recordings of 25,000 customer calls went missing on June 19.

HSBC has said a DHL courier picked up 55 digital tapes at a shipping center in Guangzhou, but only 54 of the tapes made it to their Hong Kong destination.

Wong said the bank will, for the time being, rely on electronic transfers to transmit customers' information.

Wong stressed that the decision was not made to utilize a loophole allowing the bank to outsource shipments to third parties.

"Outsourcing is very common," he said. "Many companies have the same practice. But we will review the matter in looking into how to improve our shipments in the future."

Wong said that the bank is still identifying the affected customers, and will notify them as soon as possible. He estimated the process will take another day or two.

Regarding the two-week delay in announcing the lost tapes, Wong said that the bank wanted to first review what happened on DHL's end.

Who exactly is responsible for the loss is still under investigation, he said.

A DHL spokesperson confirmed Friday that the company is looking into its shipping methods with HSBC.

Another local lender that ships out of Guangzhou is Hang Seng Bank, which said Friday that none of its clients' data has been compromised.

Hang Seng Bank Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Raymond Or explained that his bank and HSBC handle their clients' data separately.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority Deputy Chief Executive Choi Yiu-kwan said that the authority has told HSBC to conduct a full investigation into the incident. After receiving HSBC's subsequent report, the authority will follow up on the matter.

Choi said the authority instructs banks to regularly review their safety measures concerning the protection of client information.

Appointed Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Roderick Woo said during Friday's Legislative Council meeting that his group was in contact with HSBC on Wednesday.

But at this point, Woo said he can't tell whether there was any personal negligence involved in the data loss.