A THIRD former employee of Citibank was fined $160,000 on Monday for extracting customer data from the bank's computer database and transferring it to her personal email account.

Esther Lim Siew May, 32, admitted to 20 charges under the Computer Misuse Act. Another 168 other similar charges were taken into consideration during her sentencing.

A district court heard that she reported to then Citibank's investment consultant Jonathan Seah Thiam Heng, 48, who has since been charged and his case is pending.

In June 2006, Lim was offered a position in rival bank UBS. She was hired to form Seah's team of client advisers.

Two weeks after she tendered her resignation, the bank asked her to leave after it found out that she had compiled and emailed customer information to her own personal email account and to Seah.

Citibank also sued her and she has since settled the claim for $85,000.

Before she could start her employment with UBS, the Swiss bank asked her to go on leave. She resigned in November that year.

Mr Shashi Nathan said his client had been working in the banking industry for eight years, and had suffered a lot of financial loss.

Two others who have been dealt with are former vice president Carel Low Siok Liang, 34, who was fined $173,000 on 22 charges in January, and her personal assistant, Valarie Lim Ming Huey, 31, who was fined $40,000 earlier this month on six charges.

Seah and two others will be dealt with in due course.