Privacy Policy

June 2021.

The advice published by Choice Capital on this website has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situations or needs.

Before acting on our recommendations, you should consider their appropriateness to your specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs. If you are uncertain as to what your objectives and needs are, you should contact us to provide you with personal financial product advice.

Privacy

Choice Capital is dedicated to providing you with the highest levels of client service. We recognise that your privacy is very important to you. We are committed to implementing and promoting a privacy policy that will ensure the privacy and security of your personal information.

Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘Privacy Act’) and will protect your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. These principles govern how we can collect, use, hold and disclose your personal information, as well as ensuring the quality and security of your personal information. This policy provides guidance on how to meet the privacy obligations imposed by the APPs, the Privacy Amendment Act and the Privacy Act.

What is personal information?

Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and

b) whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

What kinds of personal information do we collect and hold?

When we provide comprehensive financial planning advice to you, we are required to collect certain personal information from your as outlined in s945A of the Corporations Act. This includes:

  • Your name, address, contact details and date of birth;
  • Employment details and history;
  • Health related information;
  • Financial details including your financial needs and objectives, your current financial position including your assets and liabilities, income, expenses, insurance cover and superannuation;
  • Details of your investment preferences and risk tolerance;
  • Your family circumstances and social security entitlements; and
  • Any other information that we consider necessary.

Although in certain circumstances we are required to collect government identifiers such as your tax file number, Medicare number or pension card number, we do not use or disclose this information other than when required or authorised by law or unless you have voluntarily consented to disclose this information to any third party.

In most cases, your personal information will be collected when you meet your financial planner in person, or provide the information over the telephone or with written material. We may also collect personal information from third parties such as your accountant/ product providers/ solicitors once authorisation has been provided by you. You have the right to refuse us authorisation to collect information from a third party.

We don’t usually collect unsolicited personal information. Where we receive unsolicited personal information, we’ll determine whether or not it would have been permissible to collect that personal information if it had been solicited. If we determine that collection would not have been permissible, to the extent permitted by law, we’ll destroy or de-identify that personal information as soon as practicable.

Can you remain anonymous or use a pseudonym when dealing with us?

If you wish to remain anonymous or to use a pseudonym when dealing with us, we may be able to provide you with limited information or services, such as general details about our services.

However, in many cases, it will be impracticable for us to assist you if you wish to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym. For example, the provision of many financial services is highly personalised, with the quality and scope of financial advice heavily dependent on the individual circumstances of each client. Because of this, if you choose not to identify yourself or wish to use a pseudonym, it may affect our ability to properly analyse your personal circumstances so our recommendations may not be completely appropriate or suitable for you.

Who do we disclose your personal information to and why?

We may share your personal information with companies outside of Choice Capital that help us with our business. To protect personal information, we enter into contracts with our service providers that require them to comply with the Privacy Act. These contracts oblige them to only use the information we disclose to them for the specific role we ask them to perform. If we seek to disclose personal information, for any other reason than the primary reason it was collected, then we must first contact you to have such disclosure authorised.

The organisations to which we disclose information may include:

  • Superannuation fund trustees, insurance providers, fund managers and other product providers in order to manage or administer your product or service
  • Compliance consultants to ensure that our representatives are meeting our compliance standards
  • Paraplanning contractors or temporary staff to handle workloads during peak periods
  • Mailing houses
  • Your professional advisers, including your solicitor or accountant as authorised by you
  • Information technology service providers to maintain, review and develop our business systems, procedures and infrastructure including testing or upgrading our computer systems
  • Government and regulatory authorities and other organisations, as required or authorised by law, for example, to government or regulatory bodies for the purposes related to public health or safety, the prevention or detection of unlawful activities or to protect public revenue
  • Another representative of Choice Capital if necessary
  • A potential purchaser/organisation involved in the proposed sale of our business for the purpose of due diligence, corporate re-organisation and transfer or all or part of the assets of our business
  • Product planning and development advisers
  • Where you have given your consent including your legal advisers
  • A new owner of our business that will require the transfer of your personal information

Will my personal information be used for Direct Marketing?

We will use your personal information to offer you services we believe may interest you, but we will not do so if you tell us not to. The services may be offered by any staff member of Choice Capital and may offer you services by various means, including by mail, telephone, email, SMS or other electronic means, such as through social media. We maintain a Register for those individuals not wanting direct marketing material

Do we disclose personal information overseas?

Some of the recipients to whom Choice Capital discloses your personal information may be based overseas. It is likely that such countries will include The Philipines and/or India. If this occurs, we will obtain your specific consent before such information is sent overseas.

How we protect your personal information?

We keep your personal information in your client file. These files are accessible to authorised personnel only and are stored in a combination of secure computer storage facilities, filing cabinets and other formats. We take steps to protect your personal information we hold against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure and against other misuses. These steps include password protection for the computers, securing paper filing cabinets and physical access restrictions.

How do you access and update personal information?

You may request a copy of your personal information we hold. This is subject to certain exceptions allowed by law, such as where the access provided would have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of others. We ask that you provide your request to us in writing (for security reasons) and we will provide you with access to that personal information. Please allow up to 14 working days for the requested information to be forwarded.

If charges are applicable in providing access to you, we will disclose these charges to you prior to providing you with the information.

If we deny a request for access we will provide you with the reason for this decision in writing.

We take steps to ensure that the information collected from you is accurate, up-to-date and complete. Generally, this information is gathered during our fact find process with your financial planner. Your personal information will be treated as confidential information and sensitive information will be treated as highly confidential. If you believe that any of the personal information that we hold is inaccurate, please contact us at your earliest convenience.

How long do we retain your personal information?

We are required by law to retain all personal information and records for a period of 7 years. Where you are no longer a client of ours, we are obligated to retain your personal information in a secure manner for 7 years. After this period of time, we will take reasonable steps to destroy your personal information when it is no longer required.

What about privacy on the website?

Choice Capital website may provide links to third-party websites. The use of your information by these third-party sites is not within the control of Choice Capital and we cannot accept responsibility for the conduct of these organisations. External websites are not subject to our privacy standards, policies and procedures. We, therefore, recommend you review them on their websites.

We always take care to ensure that the personal information you provide us on our website is protected.

Some areas of the Choice Capital website may use ‘cookies’ to make your interaction with our site more efficient. A cookie is an element of data that a website can send to your browser, which then you may or may not choose to store on your system. If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can instruct your web browser to refuse them.

What happens if you have privacy concerns and complaints?

If you are concerned about how your personal information is being handled or if you have a complaint about a breach by us of the Australian Privacy Principles, please contact us. From receipt of your complaint, we will have 30 days to respond.

We take privacy-related complaints very seriously and consider all complaints carefully and it is our best endeavours to resolve your complaint to an individual’s satisfaction; however, if you are unhappy with our response, you have the right to contact other bodies. You have the right to contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner about the way we handle your information or you can contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority – afca.org.au

Or

The Commissioner can be contacted at:

GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

Phone: 1300 363 992

Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

www.oaic.gov.au

 

CHOICE CAPITAL IS THE TRADING NAME OF CHOICE FINANCIAL ADVISORS PTY LTD ACN: 086 835 832 AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL SERVICES LICENCE: 324987, CHOICE PRIVATE CLIENTS PTY LTD ACN: 050 199 338 AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL SERVICES LICENCE: 227675 & CHOICE CAPITAL MORTGAGES PTY LTD ACN: 141 996 198 AUSTRALIAN CREDIT LICENCE: 392127. ALL ARE SUBSIDIARIES OF CHOICE CAPITAL HOLDINGS PTY LTD ACN: 609 239 296.