Privacy and security

Investbx is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains our data processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal data is used.

We recognise that, when you provide us with information, you expect us to use it responsibly, to keep it up-to-date and to ensure it is only used for the purpose for which it is provided. At the same time, the more information we have, the better able we are to help.

We see it as a partnership. You provide relevant, timely information about yourself and keep us advised of changes. We undertake to seek only relevant details, to safeguard them and to use them only to meet our statutory obligations and with your permission.

Collection of information
Investbx collects the contact details provided by you upon:

1. Enquiring of Investbx and/or
2. Registering with Investbx and/or
3. Opening a share dealing account

We also collect information about you from your use of our service and your visits to our web site and other sites accessible from them and details about the transactions you undertake if you hold a share dealing account with us.

We monitor customer traffic patterns and site use, which enables us to improve the service we provide.

Use of your information and your preferences
We will use your information to provide and personalise our service. We will also use your contact details to communicate with you.

We may use your contact information to send you news and information about Investbx and its products and services.

We may contact you by post, email, telephone or fax depending upon the type of contact details you have provided.

Please note that there may be instances where it may be necessary for us to communicate with you, in any event, for administrative or operational reasons relating to our service.

Disclosure of your information
We will never pass your contact details to third parties, without your agreement (unless required to do so by law or regulation), unless you have signed up for a share dealing account, in which case please refer to part two of this Privacy and Security Policy statement.

Other web sites
Our web site may contain links to other web sites which are outside our control and are not covered by this policy. If you access other sites using the links provided, the operators of these sites may collect information from you which will be used by them in accordance with their privacy policy, which may differ from ours.

Cookies
"Cookies" are small pieces of information sent by a web server to a web browser, which enables the server to collect information from the browser. You can find out more about the way cookies work on http://www.cookiecentral.com. Investbx uses cookies for a number of purposes, for instance to enable us to simplify the logging on process for registered users, to help ensure the security and authenticity of registered users and to provide the mechanisms to enable traffic monitoring.

Most browsers allow you to turn off the cookie function. If you want to know how to do this please look at the help menu on your browser.

Access rights to the information we hold
You have a right to access the personal data that is held about you. To obtain a copy of the personal information Investbx holds about you, please write to us at the following address:

Data Protection Officer
Investbx Limited
104 -106 Colmore Row
Birmingham B3 3AG

Please provide your full contact details and, if applicable, your customer reference number, enclosing your return postal details and a cheque for £10 payable to Investbx.

Information you provide may be stored in two ways; in paper format and electronically.

Paper-based information may include application forms you complete, printed emails, letters and faxes you send to us and correspondence we send to you. Correspondence received from you may be scanned and stored electronically.

All paper records are stored at our premises in Birmingham and access to the building is controlled by electronic systems.

Electronic information may include application forms you complete, all personal details extracted from application forms, etc. emails, letters and correspondence we send to you.

When you register your contact details with Investbx your information is kept on a database in a highly secure environment, which is not accessible other than by authorised employees of Investbx Limited and its agents.

Investbx’s share dealing and investment advice services are provided and administered by The Share Centre Limited and/or its trading division Sharemark. Investbx is an appointed representative of The Share Centre.

Information you provide is stored in two ways; in paper format and electronically.

Paper-based information may include application forms you complete, letters and faxes you send to us and correspondence we send to you. Correspondence received from you is also scanned and stored electronically for easy reference in the event of a query.

All paper records are stored at premises in Aylesbury; access is controlled by electronic pass card and 24-hour security is in place.

Electronic information includes all personal details extracted from application forms etc, and transactional data from activity passing through your accounts, such as credits to your account, withdrawals, dividends received, share sales and purchases.

All electronic information is stored in our own database which is not accessible other than by authorised employees of The Share Centre and its agents.

In addition, electronic information is 'backed-up' on a regular basis and discs are stored off-site at both our disaster recovery site and elsewhere, in order to ensure we can have our systems up and running as soon as possible in the event of a fire or other incidents.

Off-site storage of data is subject to the same stringent safeguards as that stored on-site.

How is it used?
Use of your information falls into two main categories:

Maintaining your account records
Information is used to ensure the correct details are recorded and that we can maintain contact with you, both actively and in response to requests you may make.

It is therefore important that details like your address, contact telephone numbers and bank account details are kept up-to-date. Please therefore remember to advise us of any changes to these details.

For security purposes, some changes need to be made in a secure manner and we will, therefore, ask you to advise or confirm such changes in writing or via your online account, having first signed-in using your unique customer reference and password.

We make it easy for you to update your records and control how you manage your account through the 'my profile'.

Other information can also be advised to us by email, fax or telephone, a change of telephone number for instance, although we may wish to check the validity of that information directly with you before making amendments to your records.

Providing you with information on products and services
As new products are introduced, or changes made to existing services we would, from time to time, like to advise you of them.

Naturally, we want to ensure we only advise you of services that are directly relevant or which may be of interest. To help identify this we will take into account your previous investment activity and other criteria, such as age, investment requirements and the type of investments you make, which may indicate a possible interest.

The Share Centre does not make your information available to any other organisation or business, other than its agents as detailed above. We may communicate with you in a number of ways, for instance by letter, telephone, by email and via the Internet. If you have a particular preference we will endeavour to use your preferred method of communication although there may be occasions where this is impracticable or where we are required by law or by our regulators to communicate in a particular way.

How can I check it?
Details that are recorded in your profile on your share dealing account can be viewed online anytime by signing in to your account. You can also amend those details in order to keep them up-to-date.

How can I help safeguard it?
Once you have signed in, you will have access to all parts of the site. If you are inactive for 20 minutes we will, for your own security, automatically sign you out from that 'session'. When you return to your account details (or other areas of the site where you need to be signed-in) you will need to re-enter your customer reference and password.

We will never ask you for your Internet password - so if you receive any request asking for these details you should not respond.

You can store a memorable name/word and a memorable date as additional ways for us to confirm your identity. We will never call you, or write to you, asking you to confirm these details, so if you receive such a request you should not respond.

When you call us with instructions we may ask you for these memorable details. This security check is for your protection and so, while on occasions you just feel you want to get on with the business in hand, we do hope you will help us to safeguard your interests by providing them. If you do happen to provide the wrong details inadvertently we know you will understand why we cannot provide the information requested. On the, hopefully, rare occasions this may happen we will write to you with the details you had requested.