Cox Ferguson Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy As a business that collects and holds personal information about our clients, we must comply with Code Standard 5 of the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services and adhere to the Privacy Act 2020 and its principles.

We only use client information for the purposes that we collect it for, and we do not underestimate the importance of keeping personal information secure during the collection, use, or authorised disclosure when providing our services.

Our key obligations:

  • Ensuring all information is kept secure, whether physical or electronic, and can only be accessed by authorised people.
  • Only collecting information that is needed to provide our services.
  • Explaining what personal information will be used for when it is collected, and informing the client of their right to access or correct their information anytime they wish to.
  • Only using personal information for those purposes that have been authorised by the client.
  • Returning or securely disposing of client information once it is no longer needed.
  • Reporting any data breach that may cause harm to the client/s to the Privacy Commissioner, affected individuals and the FMA.
  • Ensuring that all personal information that is collected is protected by safeguards that meet the requirements of New Zealand’s privacy laws, including all information that is transferred offshore.

What is personal information?

The Privacy Commission provides the following definition on their website: Personal information is any piece of information that relates to a living, identifiable human being. People's names, contact details, financial health, purchase records: anything that you can look at and say, "this is about an identifiable person.”

It does not need to include the client name and does not need to be secret or sensitive in nature. It is any information that could be used to identify an individual.

The Process

1. Client Authorisation

When meeting a client for the first time, we discuss the services that we offer and explain the process followed when providing advice. This involves asking the client to complete a Personal Information Authority & Declaration that outlines:

  • The purpose for collecting the client’s personal information.
  • What the information will be used for when providing the service.
  • Permission to obtain information for assessing suitability of products and/or providers.
  • Consent to send electronic marketing material.
  • Authorisation to share the information with a third party for the purposes of quality assurance, complaint management or to meet regulatory obligations.
  • The clients right to access, review and correct any information that we hold about them.

We do not provide any personal information, either verbal or written, without explicit consent from the client.

2. Office Security

  • Any time our office is unattended, it is locked with a monitored security system.
  • All physical files containing personal or sensitive information are kept in drawers or cabinets with a lock and key.
  • When files are not being worked on, they are filed away so that there is no unauthorised access to a client’s personal information.
  • All computers, laptops and electronic devices as well as software programmes are password protected so that they can only be used by those that are permitted.
  • We only respond to emails or share information once we are able to verify that we are speaking with the client requesting the information.

3. Data Security 

  • All electronic devices and software programmes are password protected.
  • We only use internet connectivity or emails where there is a secure WiFi network and an inability for others to access data.
  • We only use trusted third party service providers that abide by the Privacy Act 2020 and include assurances in their business agreement or contract.
  • Our business uses a Customer Relationship Management platform (CRM) provided by GetTrail. Details of how Trail fulfils their obligations under The Privacy Act 2020 are available on their website (https://gettrail.com/PrivacyPolicy)
  • Where laptops or electronic devices are unaccounted for, we update passwords for all applicable software programmes to prevent the chance of unauthorised access.

4. Use of Information 

We only use information for the purposes it is intended and only after the client has given authorisation to do so. Their information may be used for the following purposes: 

  • Determining suitability of products for the client’s needs
  • Applying for products supplied by one of our providers
  • Underwriting requests from providers when making an offer of terms
  • Submitting claims to a provider on the client’s behalf
  • Quality assurance purposes
  • Third party compliance services
  • Regulatory requests
  • Third party offerings that are necessary in the provision of my services to the client
  • Electronic marketing (where consent has been given) with the ability for the client to unsubscribe fromfurther electronic marketing material
  • All personal information will be handed back to the client and/or destroyed once it is no longer required andat the client’s request. We require the information to be held on file for 7 years following the end of the clientrelationship.

5. Breach of Privacy

Where a breach of privacy is suspected, it is reviewed for potential harm to determine what immediate actionneeds to be taken to prevent any further breach. 

If it is concluded that a breach of privacy has occurred, we notify the affected individuals of the breach and let them know how their privacy has been breached, what steps we are taking to limit the breach, and confirm that we will be reporting the breach to the Privacy Commissioner.

We then notify the Privacy Commissioner using the NotifyUs function on the website of the PrivacyCommission: https://www.privacy.org.nz/privacy-for-agencies/privacy-breaches/notify-us/ 

Where it is determined that there has been a breach of privacy or there was the potential for a breach to haveoccurred, it is recorded in our Incident & Breach Register and treated in line with our Material Issues andReporting Policy.

How compliance is monitored 

Ryan Li is the nominated Privacy Officer and is responsible for understanding our responsibilities under the Privacy Act 2020. We review all our advice files for accuracy and compliance with our obligations under this policy.