About 24,000 clients of HSBC's private banking operation in Switzerland had personal details stolen by a former employee, the company has admitted. In December, HSBC said that just 10 account holders were affected by the theft, which happened three years ago. The information stolen concerns 15,000 accounts that are still active. Another 9,000 accounts have been closed since the theft. HSBC says that it does not think the data can be used to access accounts. "We deeply regret this situation and unreservedly apologise to our clients for this threat to their privacy," said Alexandre Zeller, chief executive of HSBC Private Bank (Suisse).

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