Privacy Policy
The Privacy Policy is included for distribution to all clients upon account opening.
Designed Securities Ltd. considers protection of personal and confidential information a top priority and we adhere to strict privacy guidelines amongst employees, agents, and service providers. We maintain standards designed to protect your privacy and prevent any misuse of your personal information.
Personal Information Definition
The term “personal information” refers to information that specifically identifies you as an individual and is provided to or collected by us. It includes, for example, your name and address, age and gender, personal information records, identification numbers such as your social insurance number (SIN), and your employment information. For business clients, “information” includes the above data plus names of officers, directors, owners, shareholders, jurisdiction of incorporation, type of business, financial information, and ownership structure.
Requirements for Personal Information
Personal Information is required by Designed for various reasons. The purposes for which customer information is collected shall be identified before or at the time the information is collected. Information is collected from you, from our own records and from references you provide to us. Additionally, we collect personal information from sources like credit reporting agencies, other financial institutions, and certain service providers. When you open an account with us, you authorize us to collect the information we need to support the terms of our relationship and obligations to one another. The knowledge and consent of the customer are required for the collection, use or disclosure of customer information except where required or permitted by law.
Limits to Collection and Use of Personal Information
Only information that is necessary for the products and services requested will be collected. Information will be collected by fair and lawful means. Information will not be used or disclosed for any other purposes or to any other group beyond those required to provide the services and products requested by you, or as required or permitted by law.
Who is Responsible?
Designed is responsible for maintaining and protecting client information under its control. Designed will keep personal information as accurate, complete, and up to date as necessary for its purposes. We encourage you to maintain frequent contact with your Investment Advisor at any time that your personal information changes. Designed will also ensure individuals are reasonably able to acquire information regarding our policies and procedures and where material can be shared, it will be available.
Sharing you Personal Information
Designed will not sell, trade, or lend your personal information to any third parties unless we have your express permission to do so. The only occasions when we are permitted to disclose client information is when it is authorized by the client or required or permitted by law. We may use and share your personal information with our employees, third party service providers and other financial institutions, but they will not share this information with others. The information will only be used for the following purposes:
- to verify your identity and conduct background verification,
- to operate your account and provide you with products and services you may request,
- to better understand your financial situation,
- to set up, manage and offer products and services,
- if you provide us your social insurance number, we may share it with government authorities for tax purposes. We may share it with credit reporting agencies to ensure the accurate matching of credit history files, or
- if you select to disclose or specifically direct us to disclose your personal information to a third party (as in the case where you request a product, such as a mutual fund or a service from a third party, after receiving.
We may also use or share your personal information to meet the requirements of legal and securities regulatory authorities and self-regulatory organizations including, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. These organizations collect, use or disclose such personal information obtained from registrants for regulatory purposes, including:
- surveillance of trading-related activity,
- sales, financial compliance, trade desk review and other regulatory audits,
- investigation of potential regulatory and statutory violations,
- regulatory databases,
- enforcement or disciplinary proceeding, and
- reporting to securities regulators.
What Are Your Options?
It is always your choice whether to provide your personal information or to consent to our obtaining of personal information about you from third parties. You may refuse or withdraw your consent at any time. However, if you choose not to provide requested personal information or consents, we may not be able to provide certain or any products or services to you. For example, we cannot open an investment account without certain personal information as we would be in breach of our legal and regulatory obligations. If you choose to withdraw your consent to us using certain personal information, we might have to close your investment accounts. To clarify any questions you may have about providing personal information, please feel free to contact your Investment Advisor.
Your Access to Personal Information
You may request in writing to your Investment Advisor access to your personal information on record with Designed and information about Designed’s use and disclosure of that information. Designed will arrange to provide that information to you promptly. Please note that we may not be able to provide information about you from our records if it contains references to other persons, is subject to legal privilege, contains information proprietary to Designed, or cannot be disclosed for other legal reasons. Also, we do not maintain disclosure records for regular or routine actions.
Data Location
Designed maintains its information in Canada. Some of our vendors and service companies may be located or may have servers outside of Canada. If a service provider or its systems server is located in a foreign jurisdiction, it is bound by the laws of that jurisdiction and may disclose your personal information under those laws
Protection of Your Personal Information
Client information is protected by security safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity level of the information.
We maintain security standards and procedures to help prevent unauthorized access to confidential information about you. Our security standards and procedures are updated and tested regularly to improve the protection of our information about you and to assure the integrity of our personal information.
We have procedures in place to limit the storage, retention, and redundancies of information so that the least amount of information is retained and accessible to the least amount of people or employees as required for a business need to know basis. We educate our employees about the importance of confidentiality and customer privacy through standard operating procedures and training programs. We take appropriate measures to enforce employee privacy responsibilities.
Our virtual infrastructure employs the use of encryption, virtual private networks, penetration/vulnerability testing, and the latest firewall and antivirus technology. Email monitoring is also utilized for regulatory and compliance purposes in order to protect our clients. We continually seek the guidance of information technology experts and annually report to our auditors the control and testing measures that occurred during the year.
Privacy on the Internet
We recognize that many clients may have some privacy concerns regarding the use of the Internet. We share your concerns and are committed to protecting the misuse of client information on the web
Our Employees and Agents
Every Designed employee or agent, as a condition of their relationship to Designed, takes responsibility for protecting customer privacy, confidentiality, and security. This obligation remains in effect even after an employee or agent leaves Designed. Suppliers of services to Designed, such as data processing firms, are required to sign contracts obligating them to protect the privacy and confidentiality of personal information provided to them, to enable them to perform their function.
Additional Concerns?
Questions and concerns regarding personal information held by Designed or about its compliance with our Privacy Policy can be answered by Designed’s Privacy Officer. For further information, please call (TBD) or email privacy@designedwealthmanagement.ca.