Users of the Standard Chartered bank app have complained of ruthless attempts by the bank to force advertisements on them.
They question if the bank has violated Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act.
Users report that they cannot use the app unless they give consent to receive marketing material.
This permission is separate from the one that allows for general notifications.
One Standard Chartered bank customer wrote in, hoping to opt out of receiving marketing material.
This was the bank’s response:
“Dear Client , please be informed we are not able to disable the promotional bank advertisements while using the SC Mobile App. We apologies for the inconvenience and your feedback is important to us. Should you have further assistance or clarification, you may wish to contact us by visiting our website and click Services followed by Get In Touch With Us. Thank you for banking with Standard Chartered.”
What’s worse, according to app users, is the ads just make them go round in circles.
Apparently, one of the ads links to the Standard Chartered website, which then advertises the use of the app itself.
Bank customers who must use the app are fed up with such shady marketing tactics.
They have urged the government to look into any PDPA violations committed by the bank
