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Unfortunately, a study that looked at the tracking habits of major financial institutions suggests users may not be as private as they assume.

According to eBlocker, a German company that manufactures tools for online privacy, there are more than 110 third-party trackers snooping on users every time they visit the homepage of 10 of the most popular financial institutions in the United States.

PNC Financial Services, which operates in 19 states and the District of Columbia, was the largest offender, with 33 trackers identified on its website. PNC did not respond to a request for comment on its trackers, but the institution’s privacy policy makes relatively clear the company’s position.

While the company insists it is “committed to treating and using personal financial information about you responsibly,” it also notes that visitors to its site on both desktop and mobile devices may have their data collected by third-party companies and makes no guarantees that recorded information will be anonymized. “Such data may or may not be personally identifiable to you,” the privacy policy states.

In a privacy notice issued to customers last revised this month, PNC note that it shares information for business purposes, marketing purposes and its affiliates—much of which its customers have no option to opt out. For the few instances customers can opt out, they have to do so by calling an 800 number.

While PNC has the most trackers, it is far from the only companies implementing the third-party data collection tools. According to eBlocker’s research, TD Bank—which boasts more than 8.5 million customers in the U.S.—has 20 trackers on its site. BNY Mellon, which operates in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, has 14 trackers.

US Bank and JPMorgan Chase each have nine trackers, while Bank of America, Citigroup and Capital One have six while Wells Fargo has five. HSBC, which serves 37 million customers worldwide, had the fewest number of trackers of the bunch with just two identified on its website.

What exactly are these trackers taking from users when they visit their bank’s website? It’s hard to say for sure without going under the hood of each tacker—there is no requirement for complete disclosure of what is recorded and how it’s used, so most sites don’t provide such details—but eBlocker CEO Christian Bennefeld has a pretty good idea of just what the trackers may take.

More: http://www.ibtimes.com/online-banking-safe-websites-top-financial-institutions-are-littered-third-party-2557336

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