Last September the Singapore High Court heard a case relating to Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). An individual had left his former employer, an investment company, to join a competitor firm. At this new firm, he sent an email to a client of his former employer’s, another individual, whom he had come to know while with his former employer. In that email, he referenced a particular fund into which the client had made certain investments. Both his former employer and the client brought a lawsuit against the relevant individual, claiming that he had contravened the PDPA by using the client’s personal data without the latter’s consent.

Quite apart from the conclusions reached by the court, the case offers useful takeaways for employers looking to safeguard company information when an employee leaves, and we discuss these in our client alert.