Privacy Statement
1. DATA PRIVACY NOTICE
We take your privacy very seriously and we ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal data, your rights in relation to your personal data and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint. Italicised words in this privacy notice have the meaning set out in the Glossary of Terms at the end of this document.
2. WHO WE ARE
MWS Financial Advisers Limited collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal data about you. When we do so we are required to comply with data protection regulation and we are responsible as a data controller of that personal data for the purposes of those laws.
When we mention "MWS FA, "we", "us" or "our" we are referring to MWS Financial Advisers Limited.
MWS Financial Advisers Limited is a company registered in England and Wales (company number 4205904) whose registered office is at 9, Station Road, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands. B93 0HL. MWS Financial Advisers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. MWS Financial Advisers Limited Financial Services Register number is 458676.
We provide you with Financial Advice on Pensions, Savings and Investments, Mortgages, life cover and General Insurance.
3. THE PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT AND USE
In the course of providing our service to you we may collect the following personal data when you provide it to us:
• Contact information
• Identity information
• Financial information
• Employment status and details
• Lifestyle and Personal information
• Health information
• Data about criminal convictions or offences
• Details of any vulnerability
• Details of your dependents and/or beneficiaries under a policy (If you are providing information about another person we expect you to ensure that they know you are doing so and are content with their information being provided to us. You might find it helpful to show them this privacy notice and if they have any concerns please contact us in one of the ways described below.)]
• Product details
4. INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM OTHER SOURCES
We also obtain personal data from other sources in the course of providing our intermediary services. Where we obtain this information from another party it is their responsibility to make sure they explain that they will be sharing personal data with us and, where necessary, ask permission before sharing information with us.
The personal data we obtain from other sources may include the following:
• From lenders and/or product providers:
– product details
• From identification and verification checking agencies:
– identity information
– sanction check information
5. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA
The below table sets out:
• how we use your personal data
• the lawful bases upon which we collect and use your
personal data
• who we routinely share your personal data with
REASON FOR PROCESSING
LAWFUL BASIS FOR PROCESSING
To provide you with intermediary services.
Performance of a contract.
Performance of a contract.
To apply for decisions in principle for mortgage products and/or quotations for protection and/or general insurance products on your behalf.
To apply for products on your behalf.
To retain records of any services or advice
provided to you by us in order to defend
potential legal claims or complaints
Legal Obligation
3RD PARTY RECIPIENTS LINKED TO THAT ACTIVITY
Lenders / product providers.
Lenders / product providers.
External supplier(s) of data storage and
data hosting services to retain records on
our behalf
6. SPECIAL CATEGORY DATA
Certain types of personal data are considered more sensitive and so are subject to additional levels of protection under data protection legislation. These are known as ‘special categories of data’ and include data concerning your health, racial or ethnic origin, genetic data and sexual orientation. Data relating to criminal convictions or offences is also subject to additional levels of protection.
We may process:
• Health information and lifestyle information when providing intermediary services in relation to a protection insurance product; and/or
• Criminal conviction or offence information when providing intermediary services in relation to a general insurance product
In addition to the lawful basis for processing this information set out in the above table, we will be processing it either (i) for the purpose of advising on, arranging or administering an insurance contract or (ii) for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
In the course of our activities relating to the prevention, detection and investigation of financial crime, we may process criminal conviction or offence information. Where we do so, in addition to the lawful basis for processing this information set out in the above table, we will be processing it for the purpose of compliance with regulatory requirements relating to unlawful acts and dishonesty.
7. MARKETING
We may use personal data we hold about you to help us identify, tailor and provide you with details of products and services from us that may be of interest to you. We will do so in accordance with any marketing preferences you have provided to us.
In addition, ONLY where you request on an individual basis, we may provide you with details of products and services of third parties where they may be of interest to you.
MWS Financial Advisers Limited does NOT share any personal information with any third-party marketing companies.
8. WHETHER INFORMATION MUST BE PROVIDED BY YOU, AND IF SO WHY
We will tell you if providing some personal data is optional, including if we ask for your consent to process it. In all other cases you must provide your personal data in order for us to provide you with intermediary services.
9. HOW LONG YOUR PERSONAL DATA WILL BE KEPT
We will hold your personal data for differing periods of time depending upon the reason we have for processing it. These retention periods are set out below:
TYPE OF RECORD
RETENTION PERIOD
Personal file information
Indefinitely as required by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
12. KEEPING YOUR PERSONAL DATA SECURE
We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.
13. OUR SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY
If you are not happy with the way we are handling your
information, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office. It has enforcement powers and can investigate compliance with data protection regulation (www.ico.org.uk).
We ask that you please attempt to resolve any issues with us before the ICO.
14. HOW TO CONTACT US
Please contact our Data Protection Officer/Data Privacy
Manager if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you.
• If you wish to contact John Watts, our Data Protection
Officer/Data Privacy Manager at office@mwsfa.co.uk or
write to 9, Station Road, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands
B93 0HL.
15. GLOSSARY OF TERMS
we, us or our
MWS Financial Advisers Limited. A company registered in (England and Wales) (Scotland) 4205904 and having its registered office at 9, Station Road, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands B93 0HL.)
contact information
Tel 01564 772131 or email office@mwsfa.co.uk
data controller
means a natural or legal person (such as a company) which determines the means and purposes of processing of personal data. For example, we are your data controller as we determine how we will collect personal data from you, the scope of data which will be collected, and the purposes for which it will be used in the course of us providing you with intermediary services.
data protection regulation
applicable data privacy and protection laws.
employment status
this is information about your work, if you are employed, self-employed, unemployed, a student or on job seeker allowance.
FCA
the Financial Conduct Authority, being the independent watchdog that regulates financial services
financial information
this is information relating to your financial status, including salary/income, outgoings/expenditure, tax rate and P60
health information
this is information relating to your medical history, including symptoms, diagnoses, procedures and outcomes, as well as information about your height and weight. This could include previous and current or persistent medical conditions and family medical history
identity information
this is any information that can be used to distinguish a person or verify their identity, such as name, date of birth, place of birth, gender, marital status, national identity card/number, passport, drivers licence and national insurance number
intermediary services
these are the services we provide to you in relation to the products, which may include:
• Advice and arrangement of Pensions, Savings and Investments. Mortgages, life protection and General Insurance services
lenders
a mortgage lender (for a list of current lenders which we work with, please contact us – see How to contact us above)
lifestyle information
this includes both work and leisure behaviour patterns. Most relevant to your products may be your smoker status, alcohol consumption, health, retirement age and
exercise habits
product
this is an [investment, pension, mortgage, protection and/or general insurance product] in respect of which we provide intermediary services to you.
product provider
a company which provides investment, pension, protection and/or general insurance products (for a list of product providers which we work with, please contact us – see How to contact us above)
sanction check information
this is information relating to your politically exposed persons (PEPs) status and Her Majesty’s Treasury financial sanctions status, which is recorded to prevent fraud and money laundering
vulnerability
a vulnerable consumer is someone who, due to their personal circumstances, is especially susceptible to detriment, particularly when an advisory firm is not acting with appropriate levels of care. These customers are more likely to suffer severe detriment if something goes wrong. Details of vulnerability fall in to the following
categories: health; resilience (financial); life events; and capability (financial knowledge/ confidence)
10. TRANSFER OF YOUR INFORMATION OUT OF THE EEA
We will not transfer your personal data outside of the European Economic Area or to any organisation (or subordinate
bodies) governed by public international law or which is set up under any agreement between two or more countries.
You have a right to ask us for more information about the
safeguards we have put in place as mentioned above. To learn
more, please see ‘Your rights’ below.
11. YOUR RIGHTS
You have legal rights under data protection regulation in relation to your personal data. These are set out under the below headings:
• To access personal data
• To correct / erase personal data
• To restrict how we use personal data
• To object to how we use personal data
• To ask us to transfer personal data to another organisation
• To object to automated decisions
• To find out more about how we use personal data
We may ask you for proof of identity when making a request to
exercise any of these rights. We do this to ensure we only
disclose information or change your details where we know we
are dealing with the right individual.
We will not ask for a fee, unless we think your request is
unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Where a fee is necessary,
we will inform you before proceeding with your request.
We aim to respond to all valid requests within one month. It
may however take us longer if the request is particularly
complicated or you have made several requests. We will
always let you know if we think a response will take longer than
one month. To speed up our response, we may ask you to
provide more detail about what you want to receive or are
concerned about.
We may not always be able to fully address your request, for
example if it would impact the duty of confidentiality we owe
to others, or if we are otherwise legally entitled to deal with
the request in a different way.
To access personal data
You can ask us to confirm whether or not we have and are
using your personal data. You can also ask to get a copy of your personal data from us and for information on how we process it.
To rectify / erase personal data
You can ask that we rectify any information about you which is
incorrect. We will be happy to rectify such information but
would need to verify the accuracy of the information first.
You can ask that we erase your personal data if you think we no
longer need to use it for the purpose we collected it from you.
You can also ask that we erase your personal data if you have
either withdrawn your consent to us using your information (if
we originally asked for your consent to use your information) or
exercised your right to object to further legitimate use of your
information, or where we have used it unlawfully or where we
are subject to a legal obligation to erase your personal data.
We may not always be able to comply with your request, for
example where we need to keep using your personal data in
order to comply with our legal obligation or where we need to
use your personal data to establish, exercise or defend legal
claims.
To restrict our use of personal data
You can ask that we restrict our use of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example:
• where you think the information is inaccurate and we need
to verify it;
• where our use of your personal data is not lawful, but you
do not want us to erase it;
• where the information is no longer required for the
purposes for which it was collected but we need it to
establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
• where you have objected to our use of your personal data,
but we still need to verify if we have overriding grounds to
use it.
We can continue to use your personal data following a request
for restriction where we have your consent to use it; or we
need to use it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, or
we need to use it to protect the rights of another individual or a
company.
To object to use of personal data
You can object to any use of your personal data which we have
justified on the basis of our legitimate interest, if you believe
your fundamental rights and freedoms to data protection
outweigh our legitimate interest in using the information. If you
raise an objection, we may continue to use the personal data if
we can demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate
interests to use the information.
To request a transfer of personal data
You can ask us to provide your personal data to you in a
structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, or you
can ask to have it transferred directly to another data controller
(e.g. another company).
You may only exercise this right where we use your personal
data in order to perform a contract with you, or where we
asked for your consent to use your personal data. This right
does not apply to any personal data which we hold or process
outside automated means.
To contest decisions based on automatic decision making
If we made a decision about you based solely by automated
means (i.e. with no human intervention), and the decision
made by us produces a legal effect concerning you, or
significantly affects you, you may have the right to contest that
decision, express your point of view and ask for a human
review. These rights do not apply where we are authorised by
law to make such decisions and have adopted suitable
safeguards in our decision-making processes to protect your
rights and freedoms.
You can contact us for more information
If you are not satisfied with the level of information provided in
this privacy notice, you can ask us about what personal data we
have about you, what we use your information for, who we
disclose your information to, whether we transfer it abroad,
how we protect it, how long we keep it for, what rights you
have, how you can make a complaint, where we got your data
from and whether we have carried out any automated decision
making using your personal data.
If you would like to exercise any of the above rights, please:
• email or write to John Watts at office@mwsfa.co.uk our Data Protection Officer/Data Privacy Manager or 9, Station Road, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands B93 0HL.
• let us have enough information to identify you, e.g. name, address, date of birth;
• let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
• let us know the information to which your request relates.