Privacy Policy

 Background

At Philo Capital Advisers Pty Ltd (PCA) we are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This Policy describes our current policies and procedures in relation to the collection, handling, use and disclosure of personal information. It also explains how you can complain about a breach of the privacy laws, how you can access your personal information PCA holds about you and you can correct information where PCA holds incorrect information.

Where PCA is providing services to you, we will be holding personal information about you, either because you have become a client of PCA or if you have given PCA information through our website or via email. Personal information means information PCA holds about you from which your identity is either apparent or can be reasonably determined.

PCA respects your rights to privacy concerning your personal information which we hold, and take all steps to ensure your personal information is managed in line with legal requirements.

Why is personal information collected?

Broadly, PCA use personal information you provide only for purposes consistent with the reason you provided it, or for a related purpose, for example to:

  • Where you have entered into a Managed Discretionary (MDA) Account Contract with PCA, for the provision of MDA Services;

  • To contact you regarding PCA services - you can opt out of these communications of course, just contact PCA;

  • Comply with legal obligations such as identifying you if you become a client; and

  • Administer your account (should you be a client).

If you do not provide us with the information which we ask for, we (or others) may not be able to provide you with some or all of the services available through us.

How we collect

Most information is collected when you become a client of one of the financial services which PCA makes available, often a managed discretionary account. But there may be other ways PCA collects personal information such as through contact with you and from their website and your advisers. PCA will collect personal information from you only by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way.

Your consent

By asking us to assist with the provision of our services, you consent to the collection and use of the information you have provided to us for the purposes described above.

What information does PCA collect and how do we use it?

The kinds of personal information collected can include the following:

  • Name, gender and date of birth;

  • Contact details including mail & email addresses and phone numbers;

  • Bank account details;

  • Superannuation account details;

  • Investment platform account details;

  • Tax file number;

  • The name and location of your adviser;

  • The investment program your adviser has recommended to you;

  • Transaction information related to your managed account portfolio;

  • Valuation information related to your managed account portfolio;

  • Any access and use details for this website; and

  • Other information you or others for you (for example, your financial adviser) might tell us.

When we provide managed account services to you, we ask you for the information we need to identify you on the relevant platform service you may be using and to ensure we can uniquely identify you in the case of there being more one client on our service with the same name.  We also need to know who your adviser is so we can communicate with them as required.   

We may provide some of the information that you provide to your wrap platform provider as part of process of matching accounts to ensure they provide us with accurate and timely transaction and valuation information in relation to your account.  We use this transaction and valuation information to manage your portfolio in accordance with our agreement with you and to support quality control procedures.

We also use your information to enable us to manage your ongoing requirements and our relationship with you, e.g. to contact your adviser or to contact you as needed.

We may also use your information internally to help us improve our services and help resolve any problems.

Disclosure of personal information

We will not disclose personal information we hold about you unless:

  • This policy allows or with your other express or implied consent;

  • It is to joint account holders;

  • It is to companies within our group;

  • It is to those who help our business to run;

  • It is in the public interest (for example where a breach of law is committed or suspected, and we consider that disclosure against your rights to confidentiality is justified);

  • We consider that law requires disclosure, or a regulator requests (for example, to various government departments and agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office, CentreLink, the Child Support Agency, or disclosure to courts under subpoena or to ASIC or AUSTRAC if asked);

  • We consider someone relevant to you needs the information, for example your financial adviser or someone who we have no reason to doubt is acting for you; or

  • It is to administer your account.

What about security?

PCA is committed to ensuring that your personal information is kept secure. We have a number of physical access and technology policies and procedures in place designed to provide a robust security environment. No personal data is stored on our website.

In those instances where we secure your personal information in transit to us and on receipt, we use the industry standard encryption software, Secured Socket Layer (SSL) 128 bit encryption. The URL in your browser will change to "HTTPS" instead of "HTTP" when this security feature is invoked. Your browser may also display a lock symbol on its bottom task bar line to indicate this secure transmission is in place. But the internet is not a secure environment and we cannot guarantee the security of information we exchange electronically.

Website use

Our internet server logs certain information which is provided by your browser:

  • The type of browser and operating system you are using;

  • Your Internet Service Provider and top level domain name (for example - .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc);

  • The address of any referring web site (for example - the previous web site you visited); and

  • Your computer's IP (Internet Protocol) address (a number which is unique to the machine through which you are connected to the internet).

We may use cookies to obtain information with regards to web site activity (such as the type of browser used, the number of pages viewed, time of the site and navigation patterns) and to help you use this site when you visit again. This information on its own does not identify an individual but it does provide us with statistics that can help us with design of the web site. You can configure your browser to accept or reject cookies. If you reject all cookies you may not be able to use some or all of our web site.

Telephone services

We may monitor or record telephone calls for training, record or security purposes. If we do so, we will tell you at the time.

Access to personal information

In most circumstances, you have the right to access any personal information we collect and hold about you. In certain circumstances, the law permits us to refuse your request to provide you with access to your personal information, such as when:

  • We reasonably believe that access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of any individual;

  • Giving access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;

  • The request is frivolous or vexatious;

  • The information relates to a commercially sensitive decision making process;

  • Access would be unlawful; or

  • Giving access may prejudice enforcement activities, a security function or commercial negotiations.

Please contact our Privacy Officer at the address below if you wish to access, update or correct your personal information.

Things change

If you think our records about you might be wrong or out of date - particularly your name, address, phone, email address or financial adviser - it’s important that you contact us and they will be corrected free of charge.

What happens if you want to complain?

If you have any concerns about whether we have complied with the Privacy Act or this Privacy Policy when collecting of handling your personal information, you can contact our Privacy Officer at any time on the contact details below.

We will consider your complaint through our internal complaints resolution process and we will try to respond with a decision within 30 days of you making the complaint.

Where you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint or require additional information, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Further information

You can obtain further general information about your privacy rights and privacy law from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by:

  • Calling their Privacy Hotline on 1300 363 992; or

  • visiting their web site at www.privacy.gov.au, or

  • by writing to:

The Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 1042

or

The Australian Information Commissioner
enquiries @ oaic.gov.au 

Changes

We may make changes to information handling and privacy policies and practices and this privacy policy. We will publish important changes on our web site and if necessary update this policy.   

Privacy Officer

Attention: the Privacy Officer
Philo Group

Level 14, 60 Margaret Street

Sydney NSW 2000

Tel: 02 8006 4604

or send a message on Contact Us page