EY staff allegedly access Anthony Albanese's banking information

Two Ernst and Young employees allegedly accessed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's personal banking information while working for the accounting firm at the Commonwealth Bank.

The Australian Federal Police said the Sydney pair were charged with privacy offences in May after the bank allegedly identified that they accessed restricted information belonging to a federal politician.

The men, aged 21 and 25, have been charged with a count each of accessing restricted data without authorisation.

The younger man faces an additional charge of using a communications device to distribute personal information "in a way that reasonable persons would regard, in all the circumstances, as menacing or harassing towards those individuals".

Both men have since had their employment at Ernst and Young terminated following an investigation which was prompted by the irregular activity identified at the bank.

Mr Albanese's office declined to comment on the alleged breach.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was worrying for privacy breaches to occur within Australian Banks.

"I think on the face of it, any developments of that kind are incredibly concerning, not just in relation to the PM's details, but any Australian's details," Mr Chalmers said.

"I assume that there are now legal and other processes to play out and I don't want to get in the way of those."

Latest allegation of 'Big 4' wrongdoing

Ernst and Young, also known as EY, is the latest of the so-called "Big 4" professional services firms to face allegations of wrongdoing.

KPMG agreed to a three-month freeze on new federal government contracts amid a worsening scandal over the treatment of a whistleblower, which last week resulted in the resignation of chair Martin Sheppard.

It followed revelations by the whistleblower about KPMG Australia's misuse of confidential information belonging to its client Lendlease, which were revealed by federal parliament by Labor senator Deborah O'Neill in March.

It follows the 2022 PWC scandal, when the company was found to have misused confidential government information to help multinational companies avoid tax after it was publicly disclosed in 2022.

PWC currently does not bid for any federal government contracts due to a non-compete clause.

Both men were granted bail and they are due to face Newtown Local Court today.

Ernst and Young has declined to comment.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson said, "It was not appropriate to comment on individual contractor matters".