An outside review of Bloomberg's data compliance and news reporting revealed that the financial data and news provider didn't curtail reporters' access to subscriber data two years ago, when concerns about the access first emerged, due to internal "misunderstandings."

The review, by Promontory Financial Group and law firm Hogan Lovells, didn't point to any evidence of widespread abuse of customer data by Bloomberg News. It concluded that "a number of journalists" used subscriber data in the course of their reporting, such as for looking up contact information, but it identified only two occasions where subscriber information or other sensitive data was clearly reflected in stories.