Hastings Funds Management
Privacy Policy
Hastings is committed to
respecting the privacy of personal information of clients, staff and
contractors. We have established and implemented a Privacy Policy (“Policy”) in
accordance with the National Privacy Principles contained within the Privacy
Act 1988, as well as other laws which protect the privacy of an individual
(“Privacy Laws”).
This Policy sets out our
personal information management practices. This Policy may be updated form time
to time and is maintained on the Hastings intranet.
Definitions
“Personal Information” means information, or
an opinion, whether true or not, which identifies an individual or from which
an individual’s identity can be reasonably ascertained. Your name, date of
birth and credit card details are examples of personal information. Personal
information does not include information about corporate entities.
References to
“Hastings”, “us”, “we” and “our” are references to Hastings Funds Management
Limited ABN 27 058 693 388 and its related bodies corporate.
“Privacy Act” is the
Privacy Act 1988.
“National Privacy
Principles” are the 10 Privacy Principles which apply to corporations such as
Hastings.
Application of Privacy Laws
The National Privacy
Principles are contained in Schedule 3 to the Privacy Act and set the standards
in relation to the collection, holding, access, correction and destruction of
personal information.
Hastings sometimes
handles personal information relying on exemptions under the Privacy Laws, for
example in relation to:
· employee records;
· related bodies corporate;
· provision of services to State
or Territory authorities; and
· operations
outside Australia relating to personal information of non-Australians.
Any permitted handling
of personal information under such exemptions will take priority over this
Privacy Policy to the extent of any inconsistency.
Personal information collected
Personal information
that is only currently necessary for our functions and activities should be
collected. As a general practice attempts should be made to obtain information
from the individual to whom the information relates to. However, there are
certain situations in which we may collect personal information from third
parties or persons other than the individual to which the personal information
relates to. For example, personal information may be collected about job
applicants from recruitment agencies and referees in relation to the
recruitment of staff.
The type of personal
information that is generally collected includes:
- name/date
of birth;
- email/residential
address/contact details;
- occupation;
- bank
account details;
- financial
details;
- employer;
- tax
file number; and
- copies of
documents such as driver’s licence for proofs.
All steps required
should be taken to ensure that the individual providing the information is
aware of the purposes for which the information is collected. The individual
should be informed of:
- the
types of personal information we hold about the individual;
- how
the individual is able to gain access to the information; and
- how we
propose to use and disclose the information including what other entities
and individuals the information will be passed onto.
In certain circumstances
sensitive information may be collected such as health information, membership
of professional associations or criminal conviction. Sensitive information
should only be collected when the information is provided voluntarily,
consented to us collecting it or as otherwise authorised by law.
Information should not
be collected about political or religious beliefs or ethnic background.
If the individual does
not provide all the personal Information required then this may affect the
processing of the individual’s application.
Use and disclosure of
personal information
We use and disclose
personal information for purposes related to the main purpose for which the
information was collected and where an individual would reasonably expect
Hastings to use the information including:
- provision
of financial advice;
- establish
and manage investments and accounts;
- implement
investment instructions;
- process
distributions and withdrawal applications;
- transfer
money or pay benefits;
- report
the investment performance of accounts;
- in
processing an application for employment with Hastings; and
- keep the
individual up to date on other products or services offered by Hastings
&/or Westpac group of companies.
The individual may have
also consented to the use or disclosure of the information for another purpose,
or the use or disclosure of the information may be authorised by law.
These purposes may
include carrying out or responding to the individual’s requests, improving the
services provided by Hastings, communicating with the individual, assessing
your suitability for positions with Hastings, purposes relating to any third
party acquisition or potential acquisition of an interest in Hastings, or
assets of Hastings or its managed funds, or any other purposes outlined at the
time the individual provides the information.
As part of Hastings
business, personal information in Hastings' possession may be provided to:
· service providers who assist us
in providing our services and operating our business, including, but not
limited to, organisations that assist us with fund registry, archival,
research, mail and delivery, auditing, recruitment, payroll, superannuation,
insurance, management consulting, financial and legal advisory, banking,
security and technology services in their capacity as service providers to
Hastings;
· where relevant, to prospective
employers and recruitment agencies who request verbal or written references in
relation to current or former Hastings personnel;
· in relation to an investor the
custodian, investment advisers, brokers and asset consultants; and
· other
third parties where required or authorised by law, which may include emergency
situations and assisting government agencies.
Personal information
should only be provided to third parties on the following bases:
· The individual has provided
consent to do so;
· Hastings has disclosed to the
individual the types of organisations with whom the information will be
provided;
· Authorised to do so by the Law.
The third party should
have in place privacy standards in accordance with the privacy Laws. Third
parties should also be required to use the personal information for the
specific purpose we ask them to perform or provide to Hastings.
An opportunity should be
provided to individuals who receive any marketing material to opt out from
receiving such material.
Accessing and updating personal
information
Reasonable steps should
be taken to make sure that the personal information we collect, use and
disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
If requested,
individuals should be provided access to his or her personal information in the
possession of Hastings or Westpac group of companies.
To make a request to
access or correct any personal information we hold about an individual, a
request in writing using the details set out in “Further information” below.
The individual should provide as much detail as you can about the particular
information you seek, in order to help us retrieve it.
Any request for access
or to correct any personal information must be responded to within a reasonable
timeframe. The identity of the individual requesting the information must be
confirmed before access is provided.
An access fee may be
charged where permitted by law. In certain circumstances, we may not be
required by law to provide the individual with access to his or her personal
information for example in circumstances:
- where
the information may result in a threat to someone’s health or where the
information is being used in current or anticipated legal proceedings;
- where
access would have an unreasonable impact of the privacy of others;
- the
request is frivolous or vexatious;
- the
information relates to sensitive commercial process.
If access is denied then
we will give the individual written reasons for that decision.
If an agreement cannot
be reached between the individual and Hastings with regard to the accuracy or
completeness of the information that is held by Hastings, a statement relating
to the disagreement should be noted on the individual's file.
Security of personal information
Irrespective of whether
personal information is stored electronically or in hard copy form, reasonable
steps must be taken to protect the personal information we hold from misuse and
loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Some of the ways we do
this are:
- confidentiality
requirements and appropriate training for our employees;
- clean
desk policy;
- using
secure IT networks and firewalls;
- document
storage security procedures;
- taking
all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information provided on our
website is protected;
- any
personal information that is no longer required by Hastings for the
purpose it was originally obtained, all reasonable steps will be taken to
de-identify and destroy personal information.
Identifiers
An identifier that has been assigned to an individual by a Commonwealth
Government Agency such as a Tax File Number or Medicare Number should not be
disclosed.
Hastings adopts and uses and identifier that is unique to Hastings only.
This identifier can be used or disclosed.
Anonymity
In accordance with the National Privacy Principles clients should be
allowed anonymity. The nature of financial services is such that this can be
difficult to achieve. However, reasonable steps should be taken to ensure that
general enquiries about products and services can be handled anonymously if
requested.
Additional information for users
of our Website
If you visit www.hfm.com.au
(the “Website”) to read, browse or download information, our system may record
information such as the date and time of your visit to the Website, the pages
accessed and any information downloaded. This information is used for
statistical, reporting and website administration and maintenance purposes
only.
Like many websites, our
Website may use “cookies” from time to time. Cookies are small text files that
we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser to enable
our systems to recognise your browser. Cookies may also be used to record
non-personal information such as the date, time or duration of your visit, or
the pages accessed, for website administration, statistical and maintenance
purposes. Any such information will be aggregated and not linked to particular
individuals unless required by law. The
default settings of browsers like Internet Explorer always allow cookies, but
users can easily erase cookies from their hard-drive, block all cookies, or
receive a warning before a cookie is stored. Please note that some parts of the
Website may not function fully for users that disallow cookies.
Great care is taken to
protect personal information on our Website, unfortunately no data transmission
over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100%secure. Accordingly, we cannot
ensure or warrant the security of any information you send to us or receive
from us online. This is particularly true for information sent by individuals
to Hastings via email. There is no way of protecting that information until it
reaches us. Once the transmission is received, we make our best effort to
ensure its security in our possession.
The Website may contain
links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or
policies of those sites.
Transfer of Information outside
Australia
Information will only be
transferred to other entities outside Australia if Hastings is satisfied that
the recipient of the information has privacy standards that are consistent with
Australian Law.
Further information
For any questions or
concerns about the Privacy Policy, please contact the Privacy Officer, Hastings
Funds Management Limited on (03) 8650 3600.
For information about
privacy generally, or if your concerns are not resolved to your satisfaction,
you can contact the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner on 1300 363 992
or via www.oaic.gov.au. The Financial
Ombudsman Services also considers some privacy issues and can be contacted on
1300 78 08 08 or via www.fos.org.au..