Bloomberg has hired former IBM chairman and CEO Sam Palmisiano as an independent advisor to review privacy and data standards practices at the company.
The review follows revelations last week that Bloomberg journalists had snooped on clients by monitoring page views and log-ins by traders using its desktop data terminals.
In a statement, Bloomberg says that Palmisano will immediately probe the company's current practices and policies for client data and end user information, including a review of access issues. He will be assisted by the law firm Hogan Lovells and consulting practice Promontory Financial Group in his investigation.
Daniel Doctoroff, Bloomberg CEO and president, says: "When a client brought these matters to our attention, we apologised for our mistake and took immediate action including the appointment of an internal client data compliance officer. We want, however, to go even further and get the benefit of independent leading experts so that we set the new standard for privacy and data security."
In addition, Bloomberg announced that Clark Hoyt, editor-at-Large at Bloomberg News will conduct a review of Bloomberg News' relationship with the company's commercial operations, including privacy and data policies.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that banks are pushing Bloomberg to cut the annual $20,000 charge on its data terminals in response to the scandal, while Financial News reveals that Thomson Reuters, Markit and Goldman Sachs are planning a rival service to Bloomberg's popular Chat facility in a project dubbed Open Federal Chat.