Privacy policy
Why we have a privacy policy
At Pitcher Partners, we recognise the importance of protecting and maintaining your personal information. We appreciate that you may have concerns about your privacy and about the security, accuracy and confidentiality of personal information.
Pitcher Partners is committed to providing you with the highest quality professional service whilst also protecting your privacy. Pitcher Partners abides by the Australian Privacy Principles established under the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).
This Privacy Policy sets out how Pitcher Partners collects, processes and handles personal information. This policy may be modified from time to time to reflect our current privacy practices.
Pitcher Partners recognises that the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) may apply to residents of the European Union. You should contact the Privacy Officer if you wish to exercise your rights under the GDPR.
Pitcher Partners is an association of independent Firms located in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Newcastle.
In this Privacy Policy, ‘Pitcher Partners’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refers to any entity owned or controlled by a Pitcher Partners Firm.
What we are doing
Open and transparent management of personal information
Pitcher Partners manages personal information in an open and transparent way by complying with the Australian Privacy Principles. We will remain open with you about what sort of personal information we hold, how we collect it, and for what purposes we use and disclose this information.
If you believe that Pitcher Partners has breached the Australian Privacy Principles, please contact the Privacy Officer in writing. We will respond to you within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may take your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
If you believe that Pitcher Partners has breached the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations, please contact the Privacy Officer immediately.
Anonymity and pseudonymity
When engaging with Pitcher Partners, you have the option of not identifying yourself or you may use a fictitious name. At times this may not be practicable because we need personal information to provide services to you and if you do not provide the information requested, we may be limited in our dealings with you. If it is important to you, and your identification is not required by us, you may request that we deal with you anonymously or by using a pseudonym.
Collection of solicited personal information
Our ability to provide you with a comprehensive service is dependent on us obtaining certain personal information. This might include:
- name and contact details date of birth and gender
- bank account details
- documentation used for identification and verification purposes
- employment details and employment history
- details of your current financial circumstances, including your assets and liabilities (both actual and potential), income, expenditure, investments, insurance cover and superannuation
Some personal information is considered to be ‘sensitive information’. It may be necessary in some instances for Pitcher Partners to collect sensitive information about you, for example, your Tax File Number, professional memberships and health information.
Pitcher Partners will collect information that is reasonably necessary for the primary purpose of providing a professional service to you and also for complying with our legal obligations. If this information is considered sensitive, then unless the law provides otherwise, Pitcher Partners will also require your consent to the collection of this sensitive information. We will only collect sensitive information if it is necessary to provide our services to you.
Pitcher Partners will collect personal information in a fair and lawful manner. In most instances, we will collect personal information from you unless it is unreasonable and impracticable to do so.
Dealing with unsolicited personal information
If Pitcher Partners receives unsolicited personal information that we know could have been collected from you, we will afford it the same privacy protection as if we had solicited this personal information.
If the information is not reasonably necessary for one or more of Pitcher Partners’ functions or activities or we know that we could not normally have collected the personal information, we will destroy or de-identify the information as soon as practicable, unless it is unlawful or unreasonable to do so.
Notification of the collection of personal information
Pitcher Partners will endeavour to collect personal information directly from you, however, at times Pitcher Partners may need to collect personal information from a third party and when this occurs, we will inform you. We will also be clear about the purpose of the collection, who we might disclose this information to, whether the personal information is required under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order and the main consequences of not collecting this information.
In some circumstances, Pitcher Partners uses third party service providers to carry out part of the services we provide to you. These service providers are typically located in India and the Philippines.
Use or disclosure of personal information
Pitcher Partners will not use or disclose personal information collected by us for any purpose other than the primary purpose for which it is collected, unless you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose the information for a secondary purpose or your consent has been obtained to use the information for additional purposes.
Exceptions to this include where disclosure is:
- required by superannuation fund trustees, insurance providers, and product issuers for the purpose of giving effect to your financial plan and recommendations made by us
- required by law or for inspection to ensure compliance with mandatory professional standards
- reasonably necessary to assist a law enforcement agency
- external service providers for the purposes of audit, peer reviews, legal advice, consultancy, outsourced administration, issuing statements or handling mail
- required by reporting entities for the purpose of complying with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing legislation
- permitted under the Australian Privacy Principles
Where Pitcher Partners has collected the information from you, we may use this information for the purpose of direct marketing, to conduct surveys, to notify of seminars and other events, to seek your feedback and for any other business-related purposes.
Direct marketing
Pitcher Partners may use or disclose the personal information we hold about you for the purpose of direct marketing, such as articles that may be of interest to you, if there is a reasonable expectation that your personal information will be used for this purpose and you have not opted out of receiving direct marketing communications from us, or where you have provided your consent.
Pitcher Partners will not directly market to you using information that is considered sensitive unless you have provided consent.
Cross-border disclosure of personal information
Pitcher Partners may transfer or store your personal information outside Australia if we engage with, or are required to send personal information to, an overseas entity to fulfil the purpose for which the personal information was collected (or a related or ancillary purpose).
If we do disclose personal information to an overseas recipient without your consent, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that this recipient does not breach the Australian Privacy Principles or a similar applicable law in relation to that information.
Adoption, use or disclosure of government related identifiers
Pitcher Partners will not adopt, use or disclose government agency identifiers, for example, tax file numbers, as our primary means of identifying you unless it is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order.
Quality of personal information
Our goal is to ensure, that at all times, the personal information we collect, hold, use or disclose is up to date, accurate and complete. We will take reasonable steps to correct personal information. If you become aware, or believe, that any personal information we hold is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, please contact your relationship manager or the Privacy Officer at the details provided below.
Security of personal information
Pitcher Partners takes the security of your personal information very seriously. We have implemented significant measures and precautions to protect the personal information we hold (electronic and physical) from such risks as misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify any personal information no longer required.
Access to personal information
Individuals may at any time request access to personal information that Pitcher Partners holds about them. Where possible, we will provide you with access to that information either by providing you with copies of the information requested, allowing you to inspect the information requested or providing you with an accurate summary of the information held.
If Pitcher Partners were to refuse to give access to the personal information, or in the manner requested, we will provide written notice of the reasons (unless unreasonable to do so) and details should you wish to complain about the refusal. Generally, a refusal will only be in cases where denying such access is permitted under the Australian Privacy Principles or is otherwise lawful.
All requests for access to personal information should be in writing to the Privacy Officer. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period (but not more than 30 days) after the request is made. Pitcher Partners may charge a fee for supplying personal information.
Correction of personal information
If Pitcher Partners holds information about you for a purpose and knows that the information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading we will take steps to correct the information. If you request us to correct the information, we will take reasonable steps to do so. If a third party is relying on this information, at your request we will also notify them, unless it is impracticable or unlawful to do so.
If we refuse to make a correction, we will let you know why and the complaint mechanisms that are available to you. If we continue to use this information, you may request us to associate a statement that the information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.
All requests for correction to personal information should be in writing to the Privacy Officer. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period after the request is made. We will not charge you for making the request for the correction of personal information.
Privacy on our website
When you visit any part of our website, we collect statistical data about that visit (e.g. what you looked at, the way in which you moved around the site, etc). We use this information to make our sites more useful and easily navigable.
Cookies
The Pitcher Partners website uses cookies to track how users navigate within the site and to recognise returning visitors. A ‘cookie’ is a small text file that is saved onto your computer or other device to record this information. The information is used to improve the site’s performance and provide users with more relevant content. Most websites you visit will use cookies.
You may withdraw your consent to our use of certain cookies at any time by disabling the use of cookies on your web browser. Please note, however, that blocking certain types may impact your experience of our site and its functionality. See ‘Blocking cookies’ below for information on how you can manage your cookie preferences.
Types of cookies we use:
Essential cookies: These cookies are strictly necessary to operate core functions and features on our websites. Without these cookies our site may not work as you would expect and you may not be able to do such things as logging in or registering with us.
Personalisation/Functional cookies: We use these cookies to understand how you use our site and consume our information, so we can provide a more personalised experience.
Analytics cookies: We use Google and other Analytics cookies and tools to analyse how our websites are being used in aggregate, so that we can assess and improve the quality of experience we provide to our site users generally.
External Web Services
We sometimes use external web services to display embedded content on our website, for example to display images, videos or feedback surveys. We cannot stop these services collecting information on your use of this embedded content. See ‘Blocking cookies’ below for information on how you can manage your cookie preferences on your device.
Email communications
On certain email communications, Pitcher Partners may use technology to determine whether the recipient has read, clicked on, or forwarded the email. This information is used to assess whether the content was relevant to the recipient. Where this technology is used, you will have the option to unsubscribe from the distribution list if you do not wish for Pitcher Partners to receive this information.
Blocking cookies
Most web browsers give you the option to either allow or block cookies for selected sites or to delete the cookies that have already been recorded. Refer to the ‘Help’ section of your browser for instructions on how to do this. Please note, however, some site functionality may be affected if certain cookies are disabled.
How to contact us
All requests for access or correction to personal information, privacy complaints, requests for access to personal information, queries in relation to this Privacy Policy, or any other privacy related matter, should be directed to the Privacy Officer at Pitcher Partners as follows:
The Privacy Officer
Pitcher Partners
GPO Box 5193
Melbourne VIC 3001
T: (03) 8610 5363
F: (03) 8610 5000
E: [email protected]
Your enquiry may be directed to the Privacy Officer of the relevant firm within the Pitcher Partners association that services your needs.
We will respond to your request within a reasonable time and in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act.
If you have made a privacy complaint and believe that Pitcher Partners has not adequately handled your complaint, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
P: 1300 363 992
E: [email protected]