NEW YORK — SunTrust Banks Inc. says accounts for 1.5 million clients could be compromised following a potential data breach.

The Atlanta bank says that it became aware of the potential theft by a former employee and that the investigation is ongoing. Compromised information could include names, addresses, phone numbers and account balances.

SunTrust says it will offer identity protection for all consumer clients at no cost on an ongoing basis. The company says it has not identified any fraudulent activity.

It also says that the compromised contact lists did not include social security numbers, account numbers, PIN, User IDs, passwords, or driver’s license information