Benjamin E. Robinson III spoke about financial privacy at Bates College Monday.

LEWISTON – Consumers should challenge merchants who ask for too much personal information, an expert on financial privacy issues told an audience at Bates College Monday night.

Benjamin E. Robinson III, a member of the college’s class of 1986 and the chief privacy executive for Bank of America Corp., said loss of privacy has evolved into identity theft.

“Although folks have been very concerned about their privacy, they have accepted a certain amount of lack of privacy,” he said. People understand that, for security purposes, they have to give banks, businesses and other institutions certain information to validate and authenticate who they are, he explained. But, he said, today’s unnecessarily large stockpiles of information can make identity theft easier.

“One of the biggest fears now is that some people can find so much information that they can create an identity and start relationships with banks and insurance companies,” he said. “The criminal mind has gone from stealing money to stealing identities because that seems to have a bigger pay day.”

Robinson said the Federal Trade Commission reported 10 million stolen identities in 2003.

“That is a growing concern among financial institutions and consumers alike,” he said.

“We need to find ways to detect identity theft and prevent it,” Robinson continued. “Some argue that it can’t be prevented, but I think we may have to find the way to make that happen.”

One way consumers can guard against identity theft is to recognize when a business is asking for more information than necessary and to ask specifically why they need to give that information, Robinson said.

He emphasized that banks and insurance companies “don’t take this lightly. You’re going to see a lot of cases come up where we are going to prosecute to the full extent of the law and continue to seek out ways to deter, identify and prevent identity theft.”

Robinson’s talk to a group of Bates students and a few members of the public also covered his views on leadership. He described “10-percenters” as that group of people who go beyond expectations simply because it can be done. He said the top 10 percent of people, and specifically students, “use experience as a goal,” while the next 20 percent want success as a goal, and the rest are satisfied with getting by.

At Bates, Robinson was a rhetoric major, a debater, vice president of the student government and a three-sport athlete. He told the group that study of rhetoric was a key to balancing his career and other activities because it “taught me the ability to think.”

As a senior vice president and privacy executive for Bank of America, Robinson is responsible for developing, implementing and communicating policies regarding the protection and use of customer information for that financial institution. Robinson was formerly senior vice president and strategy management executive at Bank of America, in charge of public policy issues, national alliances and national programs.

Before going to Bank of America, he was chief privacy officer for MasterCard International and president and chief executive officer of MasterCard Cardholder Solutions. Robinson was recently appointed to the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank and serves on the faculty of the Hagan School of Business at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y.

Robinson received one of six National Red Cross Star Player awards and was named one of America’s Future Leaders by Ebony magazine. He holds a doctoral degree in banking and finance from the Union Graduate School and is the author of “Financial Privacy and Electronic Commerce: Who’s in My Business.”

Monday night’s talk was presented by the Bates Distinguished Alumni in Residence program.