Bloomberg could face federal scrutiny following the media firm’s acknowledgment that its reporters had access to sensitive information about customers’ activities on Bloomberg financial data terminals.
The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department — Bloomberg clients that have leased numerous terminals for executives and staffers — are considering investigating the extent of Bloomberg reporters’ possible monitoring of their data and terminal use.
A Fed spokesperson, who asked not to be named, told USA TODAY Sunday that the agency had reached out to Bloomberg for information on what happened.
A message seeking comment from Treasury was not immediately returned, although the department was reported to be looking into the situation by The Washington Post and CNBC.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission similarly uses Bloomberg terminals, spokesman Steven Adamske said in an e-mail response Sunday. But Adamske said he could not immediately determine whether the regulatory agency would investigate.
A Securities and Exchange Commission spokesman did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.
“We’ve had no formal inquiries from any regulatory bodies,” Ty Trippet, a Bloomberg spokesman, said Sunday.
The developments came after Bloomberg CEO Daniel Doctoroff wrote on the company’s website Friday that a customer had recently complained about reporters’ access to “limited customer relationship management data” through their use of the Bloomberg Terminal.
Doctoroff’ issued the statement after the New York Post first reported that Goldman Sachs confronted Bloomberg over concerns that Bloomberg reporters were monitoring how employees at the investment bank were using the data terminals.
“Although we have long made limited customer relationship data available to our journalists, we realize this was a mistake,” wrote Doctoroff.
With more than 315,000 subscribers worldwide, the Bloomberg Terminal — the popular electronic system founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — is a desktop terminal that feeds financial market data, corporate information and staff-produced wire stories to customers who pay about $20,000 a year for the service. The terminals are heavily used by Wall Street traders and other financial industry workers and executives.
Bloomberg reporters had access to information on who logged on to their terminals and the number of times a particular function has been used. The media firm’s reporters used what was known within the company as “the Z function” to access client data. By typing that letter and a company name, they were able to see the list of Bloomberg Terminal subscribers at the firm and their contact information. By drilling down further, reporters could retrieve subscribers’ log-on information and which terminal functions — though not specific stocks or bonds — subscribers used.
Without addressing Goldman’s charges directly, Doctoroff said Bloomberg changed its policy last month so that reporters now have access only to “the same customer relationship data available to our clients.”
Bloomberg reporters never had access to information about trading or investment portfolios, stories read, securities viewed or personal messages sent or received by clients, Doctoroff said.
The company also named Steve Ross, a senior executive, as its new client data compliance officer, responsible for reviewing and establishing protocols “to ensure that our news operations never have access to confidential customer data,” he said.
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