FSA Privacy Policy:
The following Privacy Policy is applicable to all clients, users of this Website, or any persons from whom Forte Securities Australia Pty Ltd (FSA) has collected or collects personal information, in connection with the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by FSA in Australia. FSA is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) in Australia (the “Privacy Law”) when handling your personal information. This Privacy Policy applies in addition to, and does not limit, our rights and obligations under Privacy Law.
By providing us with, or authorising us to collect, your personal information, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and any other arrangements that apply between us. This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. FSA may, at our sole discretion, update this Privacy Policy at any time, to reflect changes in applicable law or our practices. Our updated Privacy Policy will be published on our website and will be immediately applicable to all of the personal information
that we hold. You must check our website regularly for the current version of our Privacy Policy.
1. What personal information we collect about you: The term “personal information” in this Privacy Policy, has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) of Australia. The personal information that we collect about you will depend on the FSA services and products that you use, or which are used by entities that you are associated with. The types of information FSA has collected, or may collect, and hold, will include (but are not limited to) information we use to identify you, your financial position and any other information that may be necessary to enable the delivery of services and products you (or entities
associated with you) use.
Personal information that may be collected:
i. contact details, including your name, address, email address, telephone numbers and other contact details;
ii. identification information, including age or date of birth, gender, tax file number;
iii. financial information, including bank account numbers or other information about your financial circumstances;
iv. details relating to your employment history;
v. details relating to your investment profile;
vi. other identity verification information, including passport data, copies of passport or other official governmental identification, birth or citizenship status and photographs;
vii. your device ID, device type, geo-location information, computer and connection information, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the sites, ad data, IP address and standard web log information;
viii. details of the products and services we have provided to you or that you have enquired about, including any additional information necessary to deliver those products and services and respond to your enquiries;
ix. any additional information relating to you that you provide to us directly through our website or indirectly through your use of our website or online presence or through other websites or accounts from which you permit us to collect information; and x. any other personal information that may be required in order to facilitate your dealings with us. Unless required or authorised by law, we will only collect sensitive information if it is reasonably necessary for our functions or
activities, and we will always obtain your consent (either directly from you or through a third party).Sensitive information may include but is not limited to information about a person’s race or criminal record) about you). We may collect your personal information from you directly, or from third parties. The situations in which we may collect your personal information from third parties include, inter alia, for: verification of your identity and for any and all KYC / customer due diligence purposes for prevention and detection of money laundering and terrorism financing; payment purposes at your direction; provision of our products, services or information in accordance with your requests or reasonable expectations and where you: have consented to the collection of your personal information from third parties; where you have defaulted on payment or delivery of securities; or where we are required or authorised by law to do so.
2. Use and disclosure of personal information: The purposes for which FSA uses your information will vary depending on the services and products you have applied for or use, and the relationship which you have with us. By providing your personal information to FSA, you consent (where consent can be given under applicable law) to our use of your personal information for any purpose which is related to the purpose for which such information has been provided to FSA and for any other purpose outlined in this Privacy Policy.
Your personal information may be disclosed to third parties for purposes described in this Privacy Policy or described in any other specific and additional privacy provisions that apply to certain products and services provided by FSA. We may disclose your personal information to the following third parties:
i. your financial adviser, other financial services provider providing services to you, your custodian or investment manager where applicable;
ii. any third party service providers carrying out functions for or on behalf of FSA or any of its affiliated entitiesworldwide;
iii. any person acting on your behalf including your solicitor, accountant, executor, administrator, trustee or guardian;
iv. Financial Services Protection Limited and its members (if you are located in Australia);
v. government agencies, courts of law, tribunals or regulators (examples include in connection with a subpoena or order with which we must comply, or a regulatory investigation conducted by an Australian regulator of FSA); and/or
vi. any other third party with your consent or where authorised or required by law.
We may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the purposes of:
i. providing you with products, services or information in accordance with your requests or reasonable expectations;
ii. administering any accounts you hold with FSA or any of its affiliates worldwide;
iii. enabling FSA or any of its affiliates worldwide to ascertain whether or not they have other services or products which may foreseeably meet your needs or may be of interest to you, and to notify you about these services or products;
iv. conducting research, planning, product development, risk assessment, risk modelling and marketing by FSA or any of its affiliates worldwide;
v. conducting identity verification and all KYC / customer due diligence;
vi. preventing and detecting money laundering and terrorism financing;
vii. determining whether you have any history of defaulting on payment or delivery of securities;
viii. complying with our legal obligations including, but not limited to, our obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism-Financing Act 2006 (Cth), the Proceeds of Crime Act 1987 (Cth), ASIC Market Integrity Rules and any rules of relevant stock exchanges in Australia, including any amendment or replacement of the Acts named above and any associated Acts and Regulations enacted pursuant to those Acts;
ix. resolving any disputes that we may have with any of our users, and enforce our agreements with third parties;
x. any other purpose to which you have consented; or
xi. disclosure where required or authorised by law.
We may use or disclose information about you in order to combine the information that we hold with information collected from or held by external sources. We do this in order to enable the development of client insights about you so that we can serve you better including to better understand your preferences and interests. Where those insights are provided to others, such insights are based on aggregated information and strictly does not contain any information that could identify you. We are required to comply with laws relating to the collection, storage, use and disclosure of Government Related Identifiers.
Government Related Identifiers (including tax file numbers) are defined in the Australian Privacy Act. We may collect and hold Government Related Identifiers and we will not disclose any Government Related Identifiers other than as required or permitted by law.
3. Disclosing your information outside Australia: Given the global nature of FSA’s business and the financial industry in and of itself and depending on the products / services being provided by FSA to you, your personal information may be disclosed outside of Australia to our related body corporate, or to our third party service providers carrying out functions on behalf of FSA or any of its affiliates worldwide or as required by law. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that any overseas recipient will deal with such personal information in a way that is consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles (if you are located in
Australia) and that provides comparable safeguards to international standards.
4. Use of Website: By using this Website with your browser settings adjusted to accept cookies, you consent to our use of cookies and other tools to provide or improve the products and services available on those sites. Where our web site cookies collect personal information, this Privacy Policy will apply.
5. Security of your personal information: FSA takes reasonable steps to preserve the security of personal information it collects. Personal information of clients, applicants and any other individuals are held in an environment with reasonable security measures in writing or electronically, or both. We have implemented security procedures, controls and protocols across all of our physical premises and electronic environments to minimise the risk of interference, loss, misuse, unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure or personal information. All stored client information is protected from unauthorised access through the use of secure passwords and user log ons or other security procedures. However, due to the inherent nature of the internet and rise in cybercrime, we cannot guarantee the security of any personal information that we hold or that you transmit to us.
6. Access and updating of information: FSA takes reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information which we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. You are able to make a request to access and update the personal information that we hold about you. Please provide us with as much detail and time as possible to assist us to retrieve the personal information which you have requested. In accordance with privacy laws a reasonable fee may be charged to cover our costs if we provide you with access to your personal information. To request access to, or amend, the personal information
that FSA holds, you should contact: Fadi Kassis, Compliance Officer – Forte Securities Australia Pty Ltd, Suite C, 38 Suakin Drive, Mosman, NSW 2088, Australia. FSA will respond to your request within a reasonable period after your request is made and, if it is reasonable and practicable to do so, provide you with access to your personal information in the manner you requested. Please note that, in certain circumstances, we may not be required to provide you with access to your personal information, or may decide that it is not appropriate to correct your personal information. If such a decision is made, we will
provide you with a written notice setting out our reasons and other available options for you.
7. How you can contact us: If you have any questions or feedback about this statement or any complaints about our collection, storage or handling of your personal information, please contact our Compliance Officer in writing at any time by using the contact details set out above. If you are located in Australia, where you have made a privacy-related complaint, we will respond to your complaint by no later than 45 days after receipt. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint or your concerns are not satisfactorily resolved, you may contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority: GPO Box 3,
Melbourne VIC 3001, Tel: 1800 337 444, Website: www.afca.org.au and Email: info@afca.org.au. Should your dispute with the
Australian Financial Complaints Authority fail to reach a satisfactory outcome, you may wish to contact the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner on 1300 363 992 or by email at enquiries@oaic.gov.au.