HSBC alerts customers of card security breach

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Thursday, April 14, 2005 | 9:43 a.m.

HSBC Holdings Plc warned about 180,000 customers who used a MasterCard to make purchases at Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. in the U.S. that criminals may have accessed their credit card details.

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank by market value, has told some of its customers they should get new cards, Richard Lindsay, a spokesman for the London-based bank, said in a telephone interview today. The security breach affects holders of General Motors Corp.'s GM MasterCard, which is issued by HSBC, Lindsay said.

Nancy Murray, spokeswoman for New York-based Polo, maker of Ralph Lauren and Club Monaco clothing, said the company couldn't immediately comment on the security breach reported by HSBC.

Banks aren't required under current rules to alert customers to security breaches and HSBC may not be the only lender to have had its credit cards compromised at Polo, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier today.