Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
This document (Privacy Policy) sets out the privacy practices of Black Pearl Private Clients Pty Ltd (BPPC). This Privacy Policy is in addition to and should be read in conjunction with the BPPC Website Privacy Statement and the BPPC Website Terms and Conditions which govern the use of any BPPC website.
We understand how important it is to protect the privacy of your personal information. Accordingly, this document sets out our privacy policy commitment in respect of personal information that you may provide to us.
Our privacy policy outlines how we manage your personal information, including how and what information we collect from you, how we hold your personal information, how we use and disclose personal information and how you can access and/or update your personal information.
BPPC is required by the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) (Privacy Act) to comply with the National Privacy Principles (NPP) (subject to the other provisions of the Privacy Act). The NPPs regulate the manner in which personal information is handled throughout its life cycle, from collection to use and disclosure, storage, accessibility and disposal. BPPC is also required to comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Commonwealth) (Spam Act) and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Commonwealth) (Do Not Call Register Act).
1) Types of information held
Personal information is information or an opinion, in any form and whether true or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion. Examples include an individual’s name, address, contact number and email address.
Your personal information will be collected and held by BPPC in order to provide you with the services that you have requested and to manage our relationship with you.
To enable us to provide you with the services that you have requested and that are suitable for your particular needs, we need to obtain and hold certain personal information about you. Our ability to provide you with a comprehensive service is dependent on us obtaining and retaining certain personal information about you, including some or all of the following:
- your name, address and contact details (including email address);
- your date of birth;
- information about you and your business, such as structure, ownership, trading performance, client segmentation, services offered, fees charged, business plans, statutory financial records and aspirations;
- details of your financial needs and objectives;
- bank account or credit card details where you have provided these to BPPC for the purpose of acquiring goods or services;
- any information provided in response to any request on a BPPC website;
- service usage records;
- billing statements;
- communications between you and BPPC; and
- any other information we consider necessary.
2) Consequences of not providing the requested personal information
Failure to provide the personal information referred to above may expose you to higher risks in respect of the recommendations made to you and may affect the adequacy or appropriateness of advice that we give you.
We are required by various professional and regulatory bodies to collect sufficient information to ensure appropriate advice can be given to our clients. If you elect not to provide us with the personal information referred to above, we may elect to terminate our relationship with you.
3) How we collect your personal information
We will not collect any personal information about you except when you have knowingly provided that information to us or authorised a third party to provide that information to us.
Your personal information will be collected in a number of ways, including:
- directly from you in meetings with your BPPC transaction manager or adviser;
- over the telephone, via facsimile or e-mail or any other written material that you provide;
- from our related companies (if any);
- from your authorised representatives;
- from contractors engaged by BPPC to provide goods and services in the ordinary course of BPPC’s business;
- from clients of BPPC who provide information on individuals as part of any service request;
- from credit reporting agencies;
- from company search agencies, including ASIC; and
- through the use of cookies on BPPC’s website.
We will only collect, maintain and use personal information about you if it is necessary for us to adequately provide to you the services you have requested, including:
- the preparation of a business acquisition or divestment strategy;
- the preparation of your succession plan; or
- the preparation of your estate plan
4) The use of your personal information
BPPC uses personal information for the ordinary operation of its business, including:
- to identify you;
- to assist you and your staff to use BPPC’s products and services;
- to provide you with products and services you may require, including to assist you to buy, sell or merge a business;
- to assess any re-engineering work required to enable your business to be better prepared for sale or merge;
- for researching and developing BPPC’s products and services, including an understanding of a customer’s communications needs for the purpose of enhancing or improving BPPC’s products and services;
- informing you of changes to BPPC’s products and services; and
- to conduct appropriate checks regarding the provision of the products and services to you.
5) The disclosure of your personal information
We may disclose your personal and/or business information for the purposes for which it is primarily held or for a related secondary purpose.
In most cases, we may only disclose information with your consent. We may disclose your personal and business information where we are under a legal duty to do so, including circumstances where we are under a lawful duty of care to disclose information.
The types of service providers that may be provided with your personal and/or business information include:
- your advisers/service providers such as your lawyer, accountant, financial planner, bank or tax agent, on your written authorisation;
- prospective purchasers of your business, on your written consent;
- government authorities and other organisations, when required by law;
- organisations that you have consented to your personal information being disclosed; and
- service providers required for the ordinary operation of BPPC’s website or business (e.g. BPPC’s professional advisors, including accountants, lawyers and auditors).
If we disclose your personal information to any third party service provider, we will do so on a confidential basis, including by seeking to ensure that the personal information is held, used or disclosed consistently with the National Privacy Principles.
6) Safety and Security of your personal information
We will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information. All personal information collected by us will be stored in a secure environment to protect against unauthorised access, misuse, loss, modification or unauthorised disclosure.
7) Accessing your personal information
You have a right to access your personal information, subject to certain exceptions allowed by law. We ask that you provide your request for access in writing and we will provide you with access to that personal information. Access to the requested personal information may include:
- providing you with copies;
- providing you with the opportunity for inspection; or
- providing you with a summary.
If charges are applicable in providing access to you, we will disclose these charges to you prior to providing you with the information.
We will not provide you with access to your personal information if:
- providing access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of a person;
- providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
- the request for access is frivolous or vexatious;
- the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between us and would not be discoverable in those proceedings;
- providing access would reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations with you in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations;
- providing access would be unlawful;
- denying access is required or authorised by or under law; or
- providing access would be likely to prejudice certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body or an enforcement body requests that access not be provided on the grounds of national security.
In the event we refuse you access to your personal information, we will provide you with an explanation for that refusal.
8) Updating your personal information
BPPC takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up to date. To ensure we can maintain this level of accuracy and completeness, we recommend that you:
- inform us of any errors in your personal information as soon as possible; and
- update us with any changes to your personal information as soon as possible.
9) Spam Act
a. Spam is a generic term used to describe electronic ‘junk mail’ – unwanted messages sent to a person’s email account or mobile phone. In Australia, spam is defined as ‘unsolicited commercial electronic messages’.
‘Electronic messages’ covers e-mails, instant messaging, SMS and other mobile phone messaging, but does not cover normal voice-to-voice communication by telephone.
b. BPPC complies with the provision of the Spam Act when sending commercial electronic messages.
c. Equally important, we make sure that our practices are in accordance with the National Privacy Principles in all activities where they deal with personal information. Personal information includes our clients’ contact details.
10) Internal procedure for dealing with complaints
The three steps BPPC follows:
Consent: commercial electronic messages are only sent with the addressee’s consent, either express or inferred.
Identify: electronic messages will include clear and accurate information about the person and that BPPC is responsible for sending the commercial electronic message.
Unsubscribe: we ensure that you can unsubscribe from any emails sent to you.
11) Collection of information about Third Parties
If you give, or direct someone else to give, personal information to BPPC about another individual (Third Party), we request that you tell the Third Party that:
- BPPC is holding personal information about that Third Party;
- such personal information will be used and disclosed as specified in this Privacy Policy; and
- the Third Party can access and correct their information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
12) Contact Details
If you have any queries about this privacy statement or you would like to access or correct the personal information that we hold about you, please contact the BPPC privacy contact:
Attention: Privacy Officer
Black Pearl Private Clients Pty Ltd
Level 2, 710 Collins Street
DOCKLANDS VIC 3008
Telephone: 1300 255 775
Email: info@blackpearlpc.com.au
13) General
BPPC may change this policy from time to time. Although BPPC intends to observe this policy at all times, it is not legally binding on BPPC in any way. From time to time BPPC may regard it as necessary or desirable to act outside the policy. BPPC may do so, subject only to any statutory rights an individual has under the Privacy Act or other applicable legislation.
14) Additional
The information contained on this website is of a generic nature and is not a substitute for properly researched advice or information. Therefore, no reliance can be placed on the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the information for any purpose other than to obtain information that is general in nature. To the maximum extent permitted by law, BPPC disclaim responsibility for any decision taken on a basis of the information shown in or omitted from this website.