My Friend From Another Bank Wants Me To Give Out His Debtor's A/c Balance

I got into this dilemma sometimes with a friend of mine whom i have known right from our secondary schooldays.His parents are also family friends of ours.We both work in different banks (I work in a First generation bank while his is a new generation bank).Recently he called me to inquire about a particular account-he wants to know the balance on the man's a/c and possibly some other recent transactions. I told him i'll get back to  him but after considering so many factors such as the ethics of the profession,duty of confidentiality,customer's rights et.c I felt it would be gross miscarriage of privilege to give out a customers info to a third party (notwithstanding the familiarity/relationship and the '', what's the big deal? are we not both bankers?, it won't cost you anything, '' syndrome). As a matter of fact I wouldn't give my dad my mum's a/c info and vice versa (They both have a/cs in the same bank).

After confiding in my direct boss and seeking for his advice, I called up my friend and gave him one really silly,flimsy excuse-even a stupid idiot would know I cooked it, something like i was denied access to the a/c bla bla bla.He felt very bad about it-infact he couldn't come to terms with my excuse cos he doesn't know why a full staff who interfaces with customers will not be able to access a current a/c. He called me later to inform me that the man owed him a sum of money and had issued a chq-he only wanted to confirm if he has money in his account before paying in the cheque.I still maintained I couldn't access the account.He then made a remark that he felt since he has a friend who works in the bank why not just ask him,afterall I could ask the same from him and he would oblige me, sounded so much like it's alright to do it et.c.

Bet this is really costing me the friendship. He wasn't the same again, almost did his wedding without informing me. It's so bad am really thinking i shouldn't have done what I did though it wasn't right to betray a customer's confidence in one too.  If I had said outrightly I wasn't giving him cos it's not right then he would feel I was trying to make him look like a bad banker who'll compromise standards to achieve selfish ends.

Please tell what you feel I should or shouldn't have done. Have I been overzealous?

You can get fired and sent to jail if you reveal confidential info.
u did the right thing. tell him to stick a finger up his ass . he is not a good friend 

You did the right thing bro. No apologies!

You did the right thing. If something has happened, he could have mentioned your  name and the two of you will have continued your friendship in Ikoyi  prison.

The bane of our society is "man-know-man" and therefore gets away with murder.

Hats off to you; you did the right thing. Your friend wanted to use you - If he has a cheque from the debtor, he should attempt to clear it; what's the big deal? 

You 'd better stand by your professional ethics.