Privacy Policy
15 September 2020
This Privacy Notice explains how particular the Firm collects, uses and discloses your personal data, and your rights in relation to the personal data it holds.
The Firm (in this Privacy Notice, “us”, “we” and “our”) is the data controller of your personal data and is subject to the DIFC Data Protection Law (DIFC Law no 5 of 2020) and DIFC Data Protection Regulations (hereafter referred to as the “Data Protection Law”).
This Privacy Notice supersedes any previous Privacy Notice or equivalent which you may have been provided with or seen prior to the effective date stated above.
Your rights
Under the DIFC Data Protection Law you have the following rights:
- To withdraw your consent at any time (where this was the basis relied on for processing personal data);
- To obtain access to, and copies of, the personal data that we hold about you;
- To require that we cease processing your personal data if the processing is causing you damage or distress;
- To require us not to send you marketing communications;
- To require us to erase your personal data (e.g. if it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected);
- To require us to restrict our data processing activities (if the personal data we hold is irrelevant or is being processed in a way which does not comply with Data Protection Law).;
- To receive from us the personal data we hold about you which you have provided to us, in a reasonable format specified by you, including for the purpose of you transmitting that personal data to another data controller; and
- To require us to correct the personal data we hold about you if it is incorrect or incomplete.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
How we collect your data
We collect your personal data in a number of ways, for example:
- From the information you provide to us when you meet us;
- From information about you provided to us by your company or an intermediary;
- When you communicate with us by telephone, fax, email or other forms of electronic communication. In this respect, we may monitor, record and store any such communication;
- When you complete (or we complete on your behalf) client on-boarding or application or other forms;
- From your agents, advisers, intermediaries, and custodians of your assets; or
- From publicly available sources or from third parties, most commonly where we need to conduct background checks about you.
The categories of personal data we collect
We collect the following categories of personal data about you:
- Your name and contact information such as your home or business address, email address and telephone number;
- Biographical information which may confirm your identity including your date of birth, tax identification number and your passport number or national identity card details, country of domicile and/or your nationality;
- Information relating to your financial situation such as income, expenditure, assets and liabilities, sources of wealth, as well as your bank account details;
- Information about your knowledge and experience in the investment field;
- An understanding of your goals and objectives in procuring our services;
- Information about your employment, education, family or personal circumstances, and interests, where relevant; and
- Information to assess whether you may represent a politically exposed person or financial crime risk.
The basis for processing your personal data (other than with your consent), how we use that personal data and whom we share it with
- Performance of a contract with you
We process your personal data because it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.
In this respect, we use your personal data for the following:
- To prepare a proposal for you regarding the services we offer;
- To provide you with the services as set out in our agreements with you or as otherwise agreed with you from time to time;
- To deal with any complaints or feedback you may have;
- For any other purpose for which you provide us with your personal data.
In this respect, we may share your personal data with or transfer it to the following:
- Your agents, advisers, intermediaries, and custodians of your assets who you tell us about;
- Third parties whom we engage to assist in delivering the services to you:
- Our professional advisers where it is necessary for us to obtain their advice or assistance, including lawyers, , consultants; accountants, IT or public relations advisers;
- Other third parties such as intermediaries who we introduce to you. We will wherever possible tell you who they are before we introduce you;
- Our data storage providers
- Legitimate interests
We also process your personal data because it is necessary for our legitimate interests, or sometimes where it is necessary for the legitimate interests of another person. In this respect, we use your personal data for the following:
- For marketing to you. In this respect, see the separate section on Marketing below;
- Training our staff or monitoring their performance;
- For the administration and management of our business, including recovering money you owe to us, and archiving or statistical analysis;
- Seeking advice on our rights and obligations, such as where we require our own legal advice.
In this respect we will share your personal data with the following:
- Our advisers or agents where it is necessary for us to obtain their advice or assistance;
- With third parties and their advisers where those third parties are acquiring, or considering acquiring, all or part of our business.
- Legal obligations
We also process your personal data for our compliance with a legal obligation which we are under.
In this respect, we will use your personal data for the following:
- To meet our compliance and regulatory obligations, such as compliance with anti-money laundering, conduct of business, market and tax transparency requirements;
- As required by financial service regulators, market authorities, financial intelligence units, tax authorities or any competent court or legal authority.
In this respect, we will share your personal data with the following:
- Our advisers where it is necessary for us to obtain their advice or assistance;
- Our auditors where it is necessary as part of their auditing functions;
- With third parties who assist us in conducting background checks; or
- With relevant regulators or law enforcement agencies where we are required to do so.
Marketing
We will send you marketing about similar services we provide, as well as other information in the form of alerts, newsletters and invitations to events or functions which we believe might be of interest to you.
We will communicate this to you in several ways including by post, telephone, email, SMS, social media, or other digital channels.
Transfer and processing of your personal data outside the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”).
When sharing your personal data with third parties as set out in this Privacy Notice, it may be transferred outside the DIFC. In these circumstances, your personal data will only be transferred on one of the following bases:
- the country that we send the personal data to is approved by the DIFC Data Protection Commissioner as providing an adequate level of protection for personal data;
- the recipient has provided appropriate safeguards and on condition that your enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for you are available – appropriate safeguards may include standard data protection clauses as adopted by the Data Protection Commissioner;
- you have explicitly consented to a proposed transfer after being informed of possible risks of such transfer; or
- the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract.
To find out more about transfers by us of your personal data outside the DIFC and the countries concerned please contact us.
Retention of your data
We will only retain your personal data for as long as we have a lawful reason to do so. In particular:
- where we have collected your personal data as required by anti-money laundering legislation, including for identification, screening and reporting, we will retain that personal data for six years after the termination of our relationship, unless we are required to retain this information by another law or for the purposes of court proceedings; or
- otherwise, we will in most cases retain your personal data for a period of six years after the termination of our contractual or other relationship with you in case any claims arise out of the provision of our services to you.
Access to Information
In accordance with the Data Protection Act1998, you have the right to access any information that we hold relating to you. Please note that we reserve the right to charge a fee to cover costs incurred by us in providing you with the information.
Contact details:
If you have questions regarding how we process Your Data or on Individuals’ rights under the DPL, please contact our Data protection Officer (DPO) at: +971 4 331 1222
You may also contact us at our postal address:
FAO Data Protection Officer (DPO)
414 Index Tower
Dubai International Financial Centre
Dubai
PO Box 507309
United Arab Emirates