Ottawa – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have charged a Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) employee with unlawfully accessing the personal information of Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England.
Authorities said the breach was discovered during an internal security review at RBC, where irregular access patterns flagged by the bank’s monitoring systems prompted a deeper investigation. The RCMP confirmed that the employee had no professional reason to view Carney’s records but repeatedly accessed confidential details linked to his accounts.
Carney, who recently returned to the spotlight with comments on Canada’s global economic role, was informed of the incident and is cooperating with investigators. While police did not disclose the specific information accessed, sources suggested it included financial data and personal identifiers.
“This was a serious breach of trust,” an RCMP spokesperson said. “Canadians expect their financial institutions to safeguard their private information, and when that trust is violated, it undermines confidence in the system.”
RBC has placed the employee on immediate suspension and issued a statement stressing that no evidence suggests Carney’s funds were tampered with or that the breach extended beyond unauthorized viewing. “We deeply regret this incident,” the ank said. “We take privacy and data protection extremely seriously and are woarking closely with law enforcement to ensure accountability.”
Legal experts note that unauthorized access to personal data is a criminal offence in Canada and carries penalties that could include fines and imprisonment. The case also raises broader questions about insider threats in the financial sector, where even routine employee access can pose risks if not tightly controlled.
Carney has not commented publicly, but those close to him indicated he was “concerned yet reassured” by the swift intervention of both the bank and the RCMP.
The charged employee is expected to appear in court later this month. Investigators are continuing to review whether additional breaches occurred or if other clients were affected