Bank officials in the Hong Kong branch of HSBC are wondering how a computer server packed with important customer data managed to be stolen.

Client data involving about 159,000 accounts was stolen when a server went missing during renovation work at its Kwun Tong branch. The data was all backed up, but there was a danger that the ID information might have fallen into the wrong hands.

However, the bank is in trouble with its clients for waiting a month before it bothered to tell them about the theft.