The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the acceptance of digital banking services such as online payment and banking apps. As bank clients become more likely to use online services and contactless payment, the amount of consumer data available for banks’ digitalization strategies has increased. This acceleration in digital banking has placed a spotlight on retail banks’ efforts to protect personal data. Bank staff are on the frontlines of both protecting personal data and communicating their banks’ efforts in this respect to maintain consumer trust. Our study aimed to answer the following question: How did the sudden increase in digitalization during the pandemic affect bank staff’s capabilities in protecting personal data? In a two-stage qualitative study, we collected empirical data on bank staff’s data protection efforts during accelerated digitalization. Analyzing our findings from the perspective of technological mediation theory, which focuses on the relationships between technologies, practices, and social arrangements, we found that in banking platformization, bank staff are disempowered in supporting clients, who are responsibilized for protecting themselves from fraud. Competitive pressures push retail banks into using client data in ways beyond sector norms, endangering the contextual integrity of data flows. Further, our findings show that digitalization presents bank clients with new risks, of which they are informed only after changing their banking practices, and it may be difficult to return to former arrangements. The application of mediation theory, combined with contextual integrity theory, clarified the shifting positions of different digital technology users in the infrastructural network of platformized banking and allowed for an in-depth analysis of conflicting interests. By clarifying these interests, difficulties were identified that need to be addressed in public policy and digital innovation projects to prevent loss of trust among bank clients.

中文翻译：

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改变整个游戏规则：COVID-19 大流行加速数字化对欧洲银行员工数据保护能力的影响

COVID-19 大流行加速了在线支付和银行应用程序等数字银行服务的接受度。随着银行客户越来越多地使用在线服务和非接触式支付，可用于银行数字化战略的消费者数据量也随之增加。数字银行业务的加速发展使零售银行保护个人数据的努力成为人们关注的焦点。银行工作人员处于保护个人数据和传达银行在这方面的努力以维持消费者信任的第一线。我们的研究旨在回答以下问题：疫情期间数字化的突然增加如何影响银行员工保护个人数据的能力？在一项两阶段的定性研究中，我们收集了有关银行员工在加速数字化过程中数据保护工作的实证数据。从技术中介理论（关注技术、实践和社会安排之间的关系）的角度分析我们的发现，我们发现在银行平台化中，银行员工在支持客户方面被剥夺了权力，而客户有责任保护自己免受欺诈。竞争压力迫使零售银行以超出行业规范的方式使用客户数据，从而危及数据流的上下文完整性。此外，我们的研究结果表明，数字化给银行客户带来了新的风险，他们只有在改变银行业务实践后才会被告知，并且可能很难恢复到以前的安排。调解理论的应用与情境完整性理论相结合，阐明了不同数字技术用户在平台化银行基础设施网络中的立场转变，并可以深入分析利益冲突。通过澄清这些利益，确定了公共政策和数字创新项目中需要解决的困难，以防止银行客户失去信任。