It is a request as broad as it is surprising that was made in September 2021 by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, points out the specialized site Next INpact. In a letter that was publicly available but for which no promotion had been made, the interministerial digital address replied to Bercy’s desire to collect, in real time, all the bank transactions of the French.
The document refers to a request made on September 15, 2021 as part of the modernization of the bank account file (Ficoba). Created in 1971, it lists the names associated with all bank accounts hosted by French banks, but also, since 2020, the names associated with safes. This file, accessible to the tax administration, social security or justice, is intended, in particular, to fight against fraud and all illegal activities.
mountain of data
But for Bercy, the names of the account holders are no longer enough. In fact, the ministry has wanted to integrate all the “operations carried out in bank accounts”, both for individuals and for companies. A simple purchase in store or a transfer could, in this context, feed the database, which would then inflate exponentially.
For the interministerial digital leadership, such an evolution constitutes a change as massive as it is dangerous. Nadi Bou Hanna, then in charge of the management, issued an unfavorable opinion, rejecting Bercy’s attempt by mentioning too vague purposes.
Other unfavorable arguments are used, starting with the lack of parliamentary debate on this issue or consultation with the CNIL on the subject of the treatment of this mountain of sensitive data. Information that, however, is widely accessible: by combining all the requests for the services that can access Ficoba, Next INpact remembers that it was consulted 40 million times in 2020.
Source: BFM TV
