A steady number of complaints are heard from the public about banks accessing their accounts without authorisation and passing on account information to third parties.
While some banks have admitted there are problems, others have been less willing to acknowledge that their clients' bank details are not as confidential as they expected.
Personal Finance has learnt of another incident where a bank handed over a client's account statement to a third party without authorisation.
A reader in Maritzburg says she started legal proceedings against a client who had not paid an account.
The client disputed this and was told that if she could come up with proof of payment, such as a deposit slip, charges would be dropped.
The client, who maintained that she had deposited the outstanding amount into the reader's cheque account, subsequently went to the Estcourt branch of United Bank and requested a statement of the cheque account.
The bank gave her a copy of the readers' cheque account statement but later apologised saying the actions of its agent were "contrary to bank procedure".
Absa says it is satisfied that firm disciplinary procedures are in place should employees break the rules of client account confidentiality.
The bank says it investigates all contraventions and in certain instances it may summarily dismiss an employee responsible for breaching client confidentiality.