Kroger, Albertsons face lawsuit alleging collusion | HDFC Life Insurance reports data leak | Foodinho fined €5 million for rider data breaches

In today’s Portfolio Intelligence Daily:?

• Kroger, Albertsons face lawsuit alleging collusion?
• HDFC Life Insurance reports data leak
• Foodinho fined €5 million for rider data breaches

Our analyst team curates these summaries from Auquan’s Intelligence Engine, which uses generative AI and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) to uncover material non-financial insights at scale to support deal sourcing, due diligence, risk monitoring, and compliance.

Industry trends:

• The magic of RAG is in the retrieval (InfoWorld) — Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and AI agents are transforming how AI can automate knowledge work in the enterprise.
• Tackling Information Overload in the Age of AI [private credit] (TDWI Upside)
• Why AI is finally catching up with financial services (Maddyness)

Kroger, Albertsons face lawsuit alleging collusion?

Kroger and Albertsons, two of the largest grocery retailers in the United States, are facing a lawsuit that alleges collusion aimed at undermining workers' rights during a recent strike.

• Valarie Morgan, a King Soopers employee, has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in Colorado, claiming that Kroger and Albertsons conspired to limit the negotiating power of striking workers by agreeing not to hire each other's employees during the 2022 strike.

• The lawsuit asserts that the two companies formed an illegal agreement to refrain from recruiting each other's striking workers, which allegedly weakened the union's position and led to less favorable contract terms for Kroger employees.?

• Emails cited in the lawsuit reveal communications between senior executives at both companies, indicating a coordinated effort not to attract customers or employees from each other during the strike, thereby maintaining their competitive advantage.

• The lawsuit seeks to block Kroger's proposed $25 billion merger with Albertsons, which critics argue would further suppress competition and lead to higher prices for consumers.

Select timeline

• Nov 27, 2024 | Worker Sues Kroger And Albertsons, Alleging Collusion Against Union (Yahoo)
• Nov 27, 2024 | Worker Sues Kroger And Albertsons, Alleging Collusion Against Union (Huff Post)
• Nov 26, 2024 | “No-poach” deal by Kroger, Albertsons undercut union in 2022 grocery strike, lawsuit says (The Denver Pot)

HDFC Life Insurance reports data leak

HDFC Life Insurance, one of India's leading private insurers, has reported a significant data leak involving customer information.

• HDFC Life Insurance has filed a police complaint after an unknown hacker stole customer data and demanded ransom to prevent its public release. The data included sensitive information such as names, policy numbers, addresses, and mobile numbers of 99 customers.?

• The company has launched an investigation with the help of cybersecurity experts to assess the breach's impact and implement necessary remedial actions. HDFC Life is conducting an information security assessment and data log analysis to determine the root cause of the breach.

• HDFC Life has informed the stock exchange about the incident and is in compliance with regulatory requirements, ensuring transparency regarding the data leak. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is monitoring the situation closely.?

• HDFC Life has reassured its customers that it is taking all necessary measures to protect their interests and prevent future incidents. The company emphasized its dedication to handling customer concerns with utmost care following this breach.

Select timeline

• Nov 27, 2024 | HDFC Life Insurance files police case against data theft, extortion (Hindustan Times)
• Nov 26, 2024 | HDFC Life hit by data breach incident, launches probe (Financial Express)
• Nov 25, 2024 | HDFC Life probing customer data breach (The Hindu)

Foodinho fined €5 million for rider data breaches

Foodinho, an Italian food delivery app owned by Glovo, has been fined €5 million for serious breaches of rider data privacy.

• The Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante) discovered that Foodinho unlawfully processed the personal data of over 35,000 riders, including transferring their geolocation data to third parties without consent, even during non-working hours.?

• As part of the ruling, Foodinho has been prohibited from using riders' biometric data, such as facial recognition, for identity verification purposes.?

• This is not the first penalty for Foodinho; in 2021, the company was fined €2.6 million for similar data protection issues related to its algorithmic management of riders.?

• The Garante has mandated that Foodinho implement changes to its app's messaging and GPS features to ensure that tracking can be disabled when riders are off duty.?

Select timeline

• Nov 22, 2024 | Italian food delivery app Foodinho eats another privacy fine (Tech crunch)
• Nov 22, 2024 | Italy watchdog fines Foodinho 5 million euros for rider data breaches (The Print)
• Nov 22, 2024 | Italy Watchdog Fines Foodinho 5 Million Euros for Rider Data Breaches (US News)

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