Privacy Policy

Our Commitment to Privacy

Advisers Digest Pty Ltd (‘Advisers Digest’) recognises that it is important for our clients to know how we deal with personal information and for that reason this statement outlines our current Privacy Policy. Advisers Digest abides by the National Privacy Principles (NPPs) established under the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000. A summary of the National Privacy Principles is available by contacting the Privacy Officer as outlined below.

Collection of Information

We are required under various legislative bodies and codes of practice to collect certain information in order to provide the services noted above. These include, but are not limited to, the Corporations Act, Superannuation Guarantee Act, Income Tax Assessment Act, certain regulations issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, as well as the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act. In addition, our ability to provide clients with comprehensive and quality services is reliant on us obtaining certain personal information. The representatives and staff of Advisers Digest may request personal and sensitive information from clients, which will generally comprise, but not be limited to, the following type of information:

Personal details eg. name, address, contact details (phone, facsimile, email), date of birth, marital status, dependants, employment details.

Financial details eg. assets, liabilities, income, expenses
Details of all investments, amounts, investor numbers and bank account details
Insurance policy details eg. life, trauma, income protection and general insurance
Estate planning details including status of wills, executors, beneficiaries and powers of attorney
Taxation information eg. tax file number
Centrelink details eg. benefit type and reference number

If clients do not provide us with the information required, we may elect to terminate our relationship, as it may jeopardise our ability to provide a complete, accurate and comprehensive service. We will not collect any personal information except when clients have knowingly provided that information to us or authorised a third party to provide that information to us. Information will be collected from a variety of sources including directly from clients, external organisations and companies with which Advisers Digest has a working relationship. We only collect, maintain and use Personal & Sensitive Information if it is necessary for us to adequately provide the services requested.

Use and Disclosure of Information

Any personal information about clients collected by Advisers Digest will be used for the following purposes:

Provision of superannuation administration services
Provision of accounting and audit services
Completion of associated documentation and application forms
To provide agreed services to assist in meeting your requirements, goals and objectives
To market services that may be supplied by us or by other suppliers, which may be of interest to clients, unless informed not to do so.

The organisations to whom we may be required to disclose information include, but are not limited to:

Financial institutions (including fund managers, life companies, share brokers) with which clients will be investing, are invested in or have previously invested in)
Government departments eg. Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink
External service providers and other compliance inspectors for audit purposes
External parties for business acquisitions or in the event of the sale of the business
Any other external party as authorised by clients from time to time

Furthermore, we will not use or disclose information collected other than for a purpose made known to clients unless the disclosure is:

Required by law (eg. the Australian Tax Office, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission have the power to order us to disclose information about clients’ situations);
Is authorised by law (eg. to protect our interests or where we have a duty to the public to disclose)
Clients have consented to our disclosing the information.

Advisers Digest undertakes not to sell, rent or trade personal information. We may use the personal information collected for the purpose of providing clients with direct marketing material such as articles of interest, however a request can be made not to receive such information by contacting the Privacy Officer at Advisers Digest.

Storage and Security

Advisers Digest recognises how important the privacy of personal information is to clients. We will, therefore, at all times seek to ensure that the personal information collected and held by us is protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Personal information is generally held in client files. Information may also be held in a computer database. All paper files are stored in secure areas. Computer-based information is protected through the use of access passwords. In the event a person ceases to be a client of this organisation, any personal information we hold will be maintained in a secure area or secure off-site storage facility for a period of at least 7 years in order to comply with legislative and professional requirements, following which time the information will be destroyed.

Identifiers

We will not adopt as our own any identifiers that may be provided to us such as Tax File Numbers, Centrelink reference numbers, Medicare numbers etc.

Transfer of Information Overseas

Advisers Digest allows the provision to send personal information overseas. This is either when information is sent directly to the client, or to obtain further information from international organisations to aid services provided. Wherever possible, the information will only be transferred to another country where we reasonably believe the other country has privacy laws substantially similar to our own.

Access to Your Information

A client may at any time, request access to their personal information and we will provide access to that information either by providing copies of the information requested, allowing clients to inspect the information requested or providing an accurate summary of the information held. We may, prior to providing access in accordance with this policy, require clients to provide evidence of their identity. In the event we refuse access to their personal information, we will provide an explanation for that refusal. We will endeavour to respond to any request for access within 14 days depending on the complexity of the information and/or the request and may charge fees for the request of a significant amount of information to be copied or accessed.

Privacy Complaints

If clients wish to make a complaint about any breach or potential breach of this privacy policy or the National Privacy Principles, they should contact us, and request that the complaint be directed to our Privacy Officer as below.

Privacy Officer

Advisers Digest Pty Ltd
GPO Box 2
Sydney NSW 2001
0413 335 700

The complaint will be responded to within 14 days. It is our intention to use our best endeavours to resolve any complaint to the satisfaction of the client, however, if a client is unhappy with our response, they are entitled to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner who may investigate the complaint further.