National Privacy Principals came into effect from 21 December 2001 to regulate the collection, retention and use of personal information by the private sector.
While this policy does not significantly change the way we communicate with you, we support the adoption of the Principals. The following statement of our Privacy Policy is provided for your information.
OUR COMMITMENT
Whites IFM Pty Ltd respects the right of our clients to privacy.
Our policy is to only collect the personal information which we require in order to carry out the various functions and activities we undertake on your behalf or which we are required by law to collect. We protect the information collected in a number of ways and we never make it available to unauthorized persons.
Whites IFM Pty Ltd has undertaken to abide by the National Privacy Principals established under the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act, 2001.
COLLECTION
As a financial advisory organization we are subject to certain legislative and regulatory requirements which necessitate us obtaining and holding detailed information which personally identifies you and/or contains information or an opinion about you (“Personal information”). Our ability to provide you with comprehensive financial and investment advice is dependent on us obtaining certain personal information about you, including:
- Details of your financial needs and objectives;
- Details of your current financial circumstances, including your assets and liabilities (both actual and potential), income, expenditure, insurance cover and superannuation;
- Details of your investment preferences and aversions or tolerance to risk;
- Information about your employment history, employment circumstances, family commitments and social security eligibility.
Failure to provide the personal information referred to above may expose you to higher risks in respect of the recommendation made to you and may affect the adequacy or appropriateness of advice we give to you.
As we required pursuant to the Corporations Act to collect sufficient information to ensure appropriate advice can be given in respect of recommendations made to our clients, if you elect not to provide us with the personal information referred to above, we may not be able to provide you with the services you require of us.
WEBSITE
Our commitment to privacy extends to our website. While it is not necessary to register your personal details to use our web site, we do offer a registration service which will enable you to access personal investment information. In the event you do register with us, we will collect personal information from you including your name and e-mail address. The website is armed with 128 bit encryption – the highest level of commercially available security. We also provide password protection to parts of the site where you can view your account details.
The Whites IFM Pty Ltd website contains links to other websites whose operator may or may not adhere to a privacy policy or be governed by the National Privacy Principals.
USE AND DISCLOSURE
We will not use or disclose Personal Information collected by us for any purpose other than:
- The purposes for which it was provided or secondary related purposes in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure; or
- Where you have consented to such disclosure; or
- Where the National Privacy Principals authorise use or disclosure where required or authorized under law, in circumstances relating to public health and safety and in connection with certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body.
We may disclose your Personal Information to superannuation fund trustees, insurance provider, and product issuers for the purpose of giving effect to the financial advisor and investment recommendations provided by us.
In the event that we propose to sell our business we may disclose your personal information to potential purchasers for the purpose of them conducting due diligence investigations. Any such disclosure will be made in confidence and it will be a condition of that disclosure that no personal information will be used or disclosed by them. In the event that a sale of our business is affected, we may transfer your personal information to the purchaser of the business. As a client you will be advised of any such transfer.
ACCESS & CORRECTION
Your personal information is generally held in your client file. Client information may also be held on our work based computer client management system which is highly encrypted for your protection.
We will at all times seek to ensure that the personal information collected and held by us is protected from misuse, loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. At all times your personal information is treated as confidential and any sensitive information is treated as highly confidential. All paper files on our premises are stored in lockable cabinets. Access to our premises is controlled by allowing only personnel with security passes to access the premises after work hours. All computer based information is protected through the use of access passwords on each computer and screen saver passwords. Data is backed up each evening and stored securely off site.
In the event you cease to be a client of this organization, any personal information which we hold about you will be maintained in a secure off site storage facility for a period of 10 years in order to comply with legislative and professional requirements, following which time the information will be destroyed.
You may at any time, by contacting us by any of the methods detailed below, request access to your personal information and we will provide you with access to that information either by providing you with copies of the information requested, allowing you to inspect the information requested or providing you with an accurate summary of the information held. We will, prior to providing access in accordance with this policy, require you to provide evidence of your identity.
In certain limited circumstances such as when it might impact on the privacy of others or prejudice legal proceedings, we will not provide you with access to your personal information. In the event we refuse you access to your personal information, we will provide you with an explanation for that refusal.
We will Endeavour to ensure that, at all times, the personal information about you which we hold is up to date and accurate. In the event that you become aware, or believe, that any Personal Information which we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or outdated, you may contact us and we will, if we agree that the information requires correcting, take all reasonable steps to correct the information.
We will Endeavour to respond to any request for access within 14-30 days depending on the complexity of the information and/or the request. If your request is urgent please indicate this clearly.
COMPLAINTS
If you wish to complain about any breach or potential breach of this privacy policy or the National Privacy Principals, you should contact us and request that your complaint be directed to the Privacy Officer. Your complaint will be considered within 7 days and responded to. It is our intention to use our best Endeavour’s to resolve any complaint to your satisfaction; however, if you are unhappy with our response, you are entitled to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner who may investigate your complaint further.
You are entitled to obtain access to the information which we hold about you by contacting us:
Contact Details:
Whites IFM Pty Ltd
PO Box 364
Albion QLD 4010
Telephone: (07) 3868 4888
Facsimile: (07) 3868 4858
E-mail: info@whitesifm.com.au
A summary of the National Privacy Principals is available on the website of the Federal Privacy Commissioner at http://www.privacy.gov.au/