Banks must guarantee the protection of personal data of customers paying with their mobile phones. The Consumers' Association is calling on the banks to do so, now that ING has also switched to Google Pay. 'Consumers are at the mercy of data grabber Google.'
The Consumers' Association is receiving reports from consumers concerned about their privacy when making contactless payments with their smartphones. The reason is the discontinuation of ING's mobile payment app. Customers who want to pay with their Android phone must now install Google Pay. All other major banks previously switched to the tech giant's system.
Several banks suggested in the media that they have good agreements with Google about their customers' privacy. But when the Consumers Union asked about those agreements, they turned out not to have any. The banks mainly referred to Google's terms and conditions.
And Google does all sorts of things with that data. Google Pay's privacy terms state that the company will collect, analyze and use payment data for other services.This allows the company to offer space for personalized ads to third parties and make billions from it.
Sandra Molenaar, director Consumer Association: 'It is unacceptable that banks are handing over customer data to this tech giant without any oversight. Google has been taken to court for large-scale privacy violations.
We think banks should offer their own payment system for mobile payments. That is supervised by Dutch authorities. Or banks should cooperate with a party that does nothing with user data. And if it is really only possible with Google, then the banks should make very hard agreements. About what the company may and especially may not do with the personal data.'
The data of consumers who pay with an iPhone appears to be better protected. Those work with Apple Pay, and Apple's privacy policy states that the company does not retain payment data.
