Privacy and Security
At State Trustees we believe it is of fundamental importance that people have confidence in the way organisations like ours deal with their personal information.
To keep you informed, we have set out below some key points about our approach in relation to the way that we deal with information about individuals collected through our website. This privacy policy statement applies to both State Trustees Limited and STL Financial Services Limited*.
'Personal information' in this privacy policy means information which identifies you as an individual or from which your identity can be reasonably ascertained.
What sort of information do we collect and hold?
Through our website, we may collect and hold information about you such as:
- Information collected when you register, create or update your online profile, including your name, address, date of birth, contact details and other personal details;
- Financial information that you may submit through the website;
- Content of electronic applications and forms that you submit through the website, when you apply for a grant or a position with State Trustees, or requesting us to take action, or to provide services or information;
- Content of any messages feedback or comments that you submit through the website, such as through the online ‘Contact Us’ form; and
- Information about your preference for services and products we offer from time to time and about your dealings with us.
From time to time, we may also collect information that you submit when you participate in any online surveys that we conduct via or website.
How do we collect information?
Where possible, information is collected directly when you submit it via the website, or when we contact you by telephone, mail or email in response to your request, comment or feedback. Certain financial advisers in Victoria may also refer you to State Trustees (via our website) in order that we may contact you to discuss our products and services. In such cases, you would have signed a disclosure form which your financial adviser provides to us.
If you are a person associated with one of the trusts, estates, organisations or persons for whom we provide services, or if we providing a service to you but it is difficult for you (for example, due to disability) to give us information, we may need to collect information about you from other people or organisations in order that we may properly and effectively provide those services or carry out our responsibilities in respect of the services we provide – for example, from the carer or support worker of a person whose finances we administer.
Like many other websites, we may also collect information that tells us about visitors to our website. The information collected may relate to date, time, duration of the visit, number of visitors, and the web pages that generate the most hits. The information will not generally be linked to the identity of the visitors.
How is personal information used and disclosed?
We may use or disclose your information for the following purposes:
- For the purposes for which it was collected;
- Where you have consented to the use or disclosure;
- Where we are permitted, authorised or required to do so by law;
- To assist us in effectively providing services and products to you;
- To enable us to confirm your identity when dealing with you and generally to maintain our relationship with you;
- To assist in the proper functioning and development of our operations, for example, to ensure we act within requirements relating to risk management, trustee, fiduciary and any other legal obligations;
- For State Trustees’ research and planning purposes such as administering, managing and developing our services and products; and
- To inform you about services and products we thing might interest you.
We may also disclose your information to other persons or organisations:
- Where they are a related company or entity;
- Where we have contracted an external person or organisation to provide support services (such as third party suppliers, service providers providing archival, printing and posting, consulting, technology and security services, mailhouses, and our advisers, agents and representatives), and that person or organisations has agreed to observe our privacy standards;
- Where that person or organisation assists us with any of our financial planning, trustee, custodial or personal investment products or services, including superannuation and managed funds organisations and their advisers, organisations in which you invest, and other persons or organisations involved in our normal business practices;
- As permitted, authorised or require by law to do so;
- Who are your advisers or representatives, including financial and legal advisers, their service providers and entities to which they are responsible;
- Where that person or organisation wishes to acquire or sell an interest in all or part of our assets or business and any advisers to such a person or organisation;
- Who are involved in maintaining, reviewing and developing our business systems, procedures and infrastructure including testing and upgrading our computer systems; and
- Involved in the payments system including financial institutions, merchants and payment organisations.
How is personal information held?
We hold personal information in a combination of computer storage facilities, paper-based files and other records. These facilities and records are securely located on-site at our Head and Branch Offices and off-site at secured premises.
What happens if you do not provide us with information?
If you do not provide State Trustees with any of the personal information which we request, it may affect our ability to meet our obligations or provide services and products to you.
How do we handle requests to provide access to, or correct, information?
You may request access to personal information we hold about you. To help us deal with requests appropriately, we ask that all such requests be made in writing. Please provide as much detail as you can about the information you seek, as this will help us to retrieve the information. It is our policy to process your request within a reasonable time. There is no charge for requesting access to your information. However, we are entitled to charge for the reasonable cost of acting on your request. In some circumstances, there may be reason why we will not act on a request, such as where it would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others or we may not be permitted to do so by law.
Notifying us promptly when any of your personal details change or where you realise that any information we are holding about you is incorrect will assist us in ensuring the information we hold is as accurate as possible.
How to contact us about privacy issues
If you have any concerns or queries, or if you wish to make a complaint in relation to a privacy issue or if you would like more information about how we manager your personal information, please contact:
The Privacy Officer
State Trustees Limited
168 Exhibition Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Telephone [03] 9667 6200
Facsimile [03] 9667 6404
Contact Us
Links
The website may contain links to websites of other organisations. Those websites have their own privacy policies and practices and you should check those websites for their privacy statements.
Cookies
The Website may use cookies to facilitate your use of the Website. Cookies are small text files which are placed on your hard drive by websites to store information. However, where the Website uses cookies, such cookies will generally be sessional cookies, and are not retained on your system once you close your browser.
Security
Areas of this website where you have the ability to enter your personal details have been encrypted with 128 bit security to ensure your personal details are protected by one of the highest levels of security available. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Therefore, where you choose to transmit information to us, you do so at your own risk.
*STL Financial Services Limited [ABN 19 070 863 900] is a licensed securities dealer and wholly owned subsidiary of State Trustees Limited [ABN 68 064 593 148].
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