This Privacy Policy sets out how we, Witan Investment Trust plc and Witan Investment Services Limited (together "Witan", "we", "us" or "our"), collect, store and process information about you when you use or interact with our website, https://www.witan.com/ ("website") and/or where we otherwise obtain or collect information about you (including when you apply or are recruited for a role at Witan). This Privacy Policy was last updated on 15 November 2022.
This section summarises how we obtain, store and use information about you. It is intended to provide a very general overview only. It is not complete in and of itself and it must be read in conjunction with the corresponding full sections of this Privacy Policy.
- Data controller: Witan Investment Trust plc Witan Investment Services Limited (as manager on behalf of Witan Investment Trust plc)
- How we collect or obtain information about you:
- when you provide it to us (e.g. by contacting us, for example by signing up to receive our emails or in connection with an application for a position at Witan);
- from your use of our website, using cookies and similar technologies;
- from third parties, who may provide us with your contact details, and
- from third parties following requests sent to institutions under section 793 of the Companies Act 2006.
- If you interact with us in a recruitment context, we may collect personal data about you from recruitment agencies and/or background check providers, credit reference agencies, which may include reports from disclosure and barring services (namely unspent criminal convictions), or third party publicly accessible sources including Companies House and social media;
- Information we collect: this will depend on your relationship with us but may include your name, contact details, details which you provide in communications, IP address, information from cookies, information about your computer or device (e.g. device and browser type), information about how you use our website (e.g. which pages you have viewed, the time when you view them and what you clicked on), the geographical location from which you accessed our website (based on your IP address). In the case of prospective directors or employees, it may also include information obtained from social media, and information contained in your CV; and we may also collect, store and use the following special category or sensitive personal data: information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, information about your health, including any medical condition, health and sickness records and/or information about criminal convictions and offences.
- How we use your information: this will depend on your relationship with us but may include for administrative and business purposes (particularly to send you the information you have requested), to fulfil our contractual obligations, to advertise, to aid our recruitment process, to analyse your use of our website and in connection with our legal rights and obligations.
- Disclosure of your information to third parties: only to the extent necessary to run our business, to our service providers, to fulfil any contracts we enter into with you, where required by law or to enforce our legal rights.
- Do we sell your information to third parties (other than in the course of a business sale or purchase or similar event)?: No
- How long we retain your information: for no longer than necessary, taking into account any legal obligations we have and any other legal basis we have for using your information (e.g. your consent, performance of a contract with you or our legitimate interests as a business).
- How we secure your information: using appropriate technical and organisational measures such as storing your information on secure servers and, only granting access to your information where necessary.
- Use of cookies and similar technologies: we use cookies and similar information-gathering technologies such as web beacons on our website including essential, functional and analytical cookies. For more information, please see our cookies policy on our website.
- Transfers of your information outside the United Kingdom: in certain circumstances we (or our service providers) may transfer your information outside the UK. Where we do so, we will ensure (or, in the case of service providers, require that) appropriate safeguards are in place, e.g. model contract clauses approved by the UK Information Commissioner's Office.
- Your rights in relation to your information:
- to access your information and to receive information about its use
- to have your information corrected and/or completed
- to have your information deleted
- to restrict the use of your information
- to receive your information in a portable format
- to object to the use of your information
- to withdraw your consent to the use of your information
- to complain to a supervisory authority
- Sensitive personal information: unless you are a prospective director or employee, we will not knowingly or intentionally collect what is commonly referred to as ‘sensitive personal information’ about you. Unless you are a prospective director or employee, please do not submit sensitive personal information about you to us. For more information about the processing of prospective directors or employees' sensitive personal information, please see the main section below entitled 'Sensitive Personal Information'.
The data controllers are Witan Investment Services Limited (company registration number: 05272533) and Witan Investment Trust plc (company registration number: 00101625)
Witan Investment Services Limited will at times act as a separate and/or joint controller with Witan Investment Trust plc, and at times as a processor on its behalf.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact Witan Investment Services Limited. You can contact us by writing to 14 Queen Anne's Gate, London, SW1H 9AA or sending an email to [email protected].
We collect and use information from website visitors in accordance with this section and the section entitled Disclosure and additional uses of your information.
3.1. Web server log information
We use a third party to host our website and their server is located in the EU.
We may collect certain information about you which you provide to use through use of our website. We collect this data using cookies and other similar technologies (please see section 3.2 below for further information about our use of cookies). Some of these cookies are non-essential cookies and can be switched off.
The website server automatically logs the IP address you use to access our website as well as other information about your visit such as the pages accessed, information requested, the date and time of the request, the source of your access to our website (e.g. the website or URL (link) which referred you to our website), your HTTP status code, the number of bytes transferred, full user agent string, apache/programming language error messages and your browser version and operating system.
Use of website server log information for IT security purposes.
Our third party hosting provider collect(s) and store(s) server logs on our behalf to ensure network and IT security and so that the server and website remain uncompromised. This includes analysing log files to help identify and prevent unauthorised access to our network, the distribution of malicious code, denial of services attacks and other cyber attacks, by detecting unusual or suspicious activity.
Unless we are investigating suspicious or potential criminal activity, we do not make, nor do we allow our hosting provider to make, any attempt to identify you from the information collected via server logs.
Legal basis for processing:
- compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject (Article 6(1)(c) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including our obligation to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk of our processing of information about individuals. Recording access to our website using server log files is such a measure.
- our and a third party’s legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), includingyour information for the purposes of ensuring network and information security.
Use of website server log information to analyse website use and improve our website.
We use the information collected by our website server logs to analyse how our website users interact with our website and its features. For example, we analyse the number of visits and unique visitors we receive, the time and date of the visit, the location of the visit and the operating system and browser used.
We use the information gathered from the analysis of this information to improve our website. For example, we use the information gathered to change the information, content and structure of our website and individual pages based according to what users are engaging most with and the duration of time spent on particular pages on our website.
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including improving our website for our website users and getting to know our website users’ preferences so our website can better meet their needs and desires.
3.2. Cookies
Cookies are data files which are sent from a website to a browser to record information about users for various purposes. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular website. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.
We use cookies on our website, including essential, functional and analytical cookies. For further information on how we use cookies, please see our cookies policy which is available on our website.
You can reject some or all of the cookies we use on or via our website by changing your browser settings, but doing so can impair your ability to use our website or some or all of its features. For further information about cookies, including how to change your browser settings, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org or see our cookies policy.
3.3. Links to other websites
Where the website provides links to other websites, we are not responsible for the data protection/privacy/cookie usage policies of such other websites, and you should check these policies on such other websites. If you use one of these links to leave our website, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting a linked website and such websites are not governed by this policy. You should always exercise caution and review the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.
We collect and use information from individuals who contact us in accordance with this section and the section entitled Disclosure and additional uses of your information.
4.1. Email
When you send an email to the Witan email address displayed on our website we collect your email address and any other information you provide in that email (such as your name, telephone number and the information contained in any signature block in your email or in any attachments.
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including responding to enquiries and messages we receive and keeping records of correspondence.
- necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request to enter into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including where your message relates to us providing you with information, we will process your details in order to do so.
Transfer and storage of your information
We use a third party email provider to store emails you send us.
The information may also be passed to other service providers as appropriate (e.g. to our company secretary).
4.2. Contact / registration forms
When you contact us using our contact form or register for an event (such as our AGM), we (or our third party service providers on our behalf) collect your name, email address, address and phone number. We also collect any other information you provide to us when you complete the relevant form, including any optional information, such as where you heard about us.
If you do not provide the mandatory information required by our forms, you will not be able to submit the form and we will not receive your request or registration.
Please note that details provided via the forms will be received by certain of our service providers.
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including responding to enquiries, requests and messages we receive, registering you for events (including our AGM) and keeping records of correspondence.
- necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request to enter into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including where your message relates to us providing you with information, we will process your details in order to do so.
Transfer and storage of your information
Messages you send us via our contact form will be received by our service providers based in the UK and stored on our third party hosting provider’s servers in the EU.
4.3. Phone
When you contact us by phone, we collect your phone number and any information provide to us during your conversation with us.
Please note that we do record some phone calls.
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including responding to enquiries and messages we receive and keeping records of correspondence.
- necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request to enter into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including where your message relates to us providing you with information, we will process your details in order to do so.
Transfer and storage of your information
Information about your call, such as your phone number and the date and time of your call, is processed by our third party telephone service providers.
The information may also be passed to other service providers as appropriate (e.g. to our company secretary or other service providers).
Information about your phone call will be stored by our third party telephone service providers within the UK.
4.4. Post
If you contact us by post, we will collect any information you provide to us in any postal communications you send us.
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including responding to enquiries and messages we receive and keeping records of correspondence.
- necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request to enter into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including where your message relates to us providing you with information, we will process your details in order to do so.
This section sets out how we obtain or collect information about you from third parties.
6.1. Information received from third parties
As well as receiving information from you directly, we may receive information about you from third parties. The third parties from which we may receive information about you may include our processors.
It is also possible that third parties with whom we have had no prior contact may provide us with information about you.
Information we obtain about you from third parties will generally be your name and contact details, but will include any additional information about you provided to us.
Legal basis for processing:
- necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request to enter into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including in the event a third party has passed on information about you to us (such as your name and email address) in order for us to provide information to you, we will process your information in order to take steps at your request to enter into a contract with you and perform a contract with you (as the case may be)
- Consent (Article 6(1)(a) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including where you have asked that a third party share information about you with us and the purpose of sharing that information is not related to the performance of a contract or services by us to you, we will process your information on the basis of your consent, which you give by asking the third party in question to pass on your information to us.
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including where a third party has shared information about you with us and you have not consented to the sharing of that information, we will have a legitimate interest in processing that information in certain circumstances. For example, we would have a legitimate interest in processing your information to perform our obligations under a sub-contract with the third party, where the third party has the main contract with you. Our legitimate interest is the performance of our obligations under our sub-contract. Similarly, third parties may pass on information about you to us if you have infringed or potentially infringed any of our legal rights. In this case, we will have a legitimate interest in processing that information to investigate and pursue any such potential infringement.
Where we receive information about you in error
If we receive information about you from a third party in error and/or we do not have a legal basis for processing that information, we will delete your information.
6.2. Information obtained by us from third parties
In certain circumstances (for example, to verify the information we hold about you or obtain missing information we require to provide you with a service) we will obtain information about you from certain publicly accessible sources, both UK and non-UK, such as the electoral register, Companies House, online customer databases, business directories, media publications, social media, and websites (including your own website if you have one). We may also request details from institutions (such as investment platforms through which you hold shares) under section 793 of the Companies Act 2006.
Legal basis for processing:
- necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request to enter into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including where you have entered into a contract or requested that we enter into a contract with you, in certain circumstances, we will obtain information about you from public sources in order to enable us to understand your business and/or investments. For example, we may obtain and/or verify your email address from your website or from a directory where you ask us to send you information by email but we do not possess the information or we need to confirm that we have recorded your email address correctly.
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including in certain circumstances, we will have a legitimate interest in obtaining information about you from public and private sources. For example:
- (i) we may request details of shareholders from third parties (such as investment platform) so that we are able to, amongst other matters: (a) send out shareholders’ circulars including the annual and half-yearly financial reports but also circulars relating to corporate actions in which Witan is involved e.g. calling general meetings (and so allow you to exercise your rights as a shareholder and communicate with you about shareholder related information for legal, regulatory and servicing purposes); (b) inform shareholders of changes to our business including its investment strategy; and (c) analyse our shareholder register to understand the types of investor who are buying, selling and holding our shares and take this into account in our strategic decisions (all of which is considered in our and your legitimate interest);
- (ii) if you have infringed or we suspect that you have infringed any of our legal rights, we will have a legitimate interest in obtaining and processing information about you from such sources in order to investigate and pursue any suspected or potential infringement.
This section sets out how we obtain or collect information about you specifically in connection with our recruitment process for directors, work or work experience. Through our recruitment processes, we may hold various categories of personal data about you, which you provide to us from time to time, or which we otherwise obtain in the course of our relationship with you. In addition, we may collect personal data about you from recruitment agencies and/or background check providers, credit reference agencies, which may include reports from disclosure and barring services (namely unspent criminal convictions), third party referees, former employers and from third party publicly accessible sources including, but not limited to, Companies House and social media.
This data may include:
- identity data (which may include your name, title, date of birth, sex and pronoun preferences);
- contact data (which may include addresses, work email addresses, personal email addresses and telephone numbers);
- right to work data (which may include copies of your passport, driving licence and utility bills, and unspent criminal convictions including in relation to any indictable offences, KYC data, information which may be revealed by anti-money laundering conducted on you (including details of your directorships, your electoral registration, your political exposure, insolvency proceedings against you, and/or any adverse media in relation to you));
- financial data, which may include bank account details;
- financial data relating to insolvency proceedings involving you or entities you have been or are connected with;
- marital status and details of dependants, next of kin, relatives and other persons closely associated for the purposes of monitoring share transactions;
- equal opportunities data (which may include your gender, gender identity, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion and beliefs, physical or mental impairment, socio-economic background and native language);
- career data (which may include current and/or former directorships, disqualifications as a director, disqualification from acting in company management or from conduct of company affairs, places of work, job titles, employment history, training records, professional membership, compensation history, grievance and disciplinary information, qualifications and CV);
- technical data may include internet protocol (IP) address, mail server URL, MIME version, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you when you correspond with us;
- data related to the number of shares legally and beneficially held in Witan by directors and employees as well as holdings in any other securities related to Witan; and
- data related to any public criticisms of you by statutory or regulatory authorities (including designated professional bodies).
Legal bases for the above processing:
- consent (Article 6(1)(a) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation). If we consider it necessary to obtain your consent in relation to a certain planned use of your personal data, we will contact you specifically to request this consent.
- compliance with our legal and regulatory obligations (Article 6(1)(c) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including in the field of employment law and the FCA Listing Rules.
- necessary to take steps prior to entering into a contract between you and the company or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including to assess your skill and qualifications, to consider your suitability for the position and to decide whether to enter into a contract with you, or to communicate with you about the recruitment process.
- our and your legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including to pursue and develop our business, maintaining a diverse and equal working environment, ensuring that no discrimination occurs in the workplace, and protecting and maintaining the security of our systems and office.
Your personal data may be processed under one of the above legal bases for the following purposes:
- to assess your skill and qualifications, to consider your suitability for the position and to decide whether to enter into a contract with you;
- to carry out background and reference checks including contacting previous employers or colleagues, where applicable;
- to communicate with you about the recruitment process;
- to keep records relating to our hiring process;
- to comply with our legal or regulatory requirements;
- to be able to make public disclosures in compliance with our legal and regulatory requirements and obligations under the FCA's Listing Rules and Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules;
- to be able to undertake equal opportunity monitoring and reporting;
- to monitor emails sent to us (including attachments) for viruses or malicious software;
- to protect and manage email traffic;
- to detect, prevent and/or investigate fraud and crime such as monitoring office CCTV; and
- generally to manage the activities of Witan, including by monitoring and recording electronic communications (including telephone calls and emails).
Once we receive your CV and covering letter or your application form, we may process that information to decide whether the Company has any suitable vacancies and if you meet the basic requirements to be shortlisted for that role. If you do, we will decide whether your application is strong enough to invite you for an interview. If we decide to call you for an interview, we will use the information you provide to us at the interview to decide whether to offer you the work. If we decide to offer you the work, we will then take up references and we may carry out a criminal record or other checks before confirming your appointment.
If you fail to provide information when requested, which is necessary for us to consider your application, we will not be able to process your application.
This section sets out the circumstances in which will disclose information about you to third parties and any additional purposes for which we use your information.
8.1. Disclosure of your information to service providers
We use a number of third parties to provide us with services which are necessary to run our business or to assist us with running our business and who process your information for us on our behalf. These include telephone providers, email providers, IT service Providers, website hosting providers, our CRM provider, registrars, printers, fund administrators, company secretary, fulfilment houses, third party managers, recruitment consultants, providers of contextualised recruitment services and background checks, compliance, anti-money laundering and/or credit reference services.
Your information will be shared with these service providers where necessary to provide you with the service you have requested, whether that is accessing our website or in connection with investments/services connected with us.
Legal basis for processing:
- legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including where we share your information with these third parties in a context other than where is necessary to perform a contract (or take steps at your request to do so), we will share your information with such third parties in order to allow us to run and manage our business efficiently.
- necessary to perform a contract and/or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including when we may need to share information with our service providers to enable us to perform our obligations under that contract or to take the steps you have requested before we enter into a contract with you (for example, a contract of employment).
- compliance with our legal and regulatory obligations (Article 6(1)(c) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including that, as a firm regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, we are required to carry out criminal record checks for those carrying out roles within the firm which carry regulatory responsibilities.
8.2. Disclosure of your information to other third parties
We may also disclose your information to other third parties in specific circumstances, including as set out below.
8.2.1. Providing information to third parties such as Google Inc.
Google collects information through our use of Google Analytics on our website. Google uses this information, including IP addresses and information from cookies, for a number of purposes, such as improving its Google Analytics service. Information is shared with Google on an aggregated and anonymised basis. To find out more about what information Google collects, how it uses this information and how to control the information sent to Google, please see the following page: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including to meetour contractual obligations to Google under our Google Analytics Terms of Service (https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html)
You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the browser plugin here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
8.2.2. Sharing your information with third parties, which are either related to or associated with the running of our business, where it is necessary for us to do so. These third parties include our accountants, advisors, affiliates, business partners, depositary, independent contractors.
Further information on each of these third parties is set out below. These parties will be independent controllers of your personal data and will have their own privacy notices in place.
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including running and managing our business efficiently.
Accountants and auditors
We share information with our accountants and auditors for tax and audit purposes. For example, we share invoices we issue and receive with our accountants for the purpose of completing tax returns and our end of year accounts.
Advisors
Occasionally, we obtain advice from advisors, such as regulatory and compliance practitioners, financial advisors and corporate and executive coaching consultants. We will share your information with these third parties only where it is necessary to enable these third parties to be able to provide us with the relevant advice.
Depositary
We share information with our depositary, BNP Paribas Trust Corporation UK Limited ("BNP Paribas"), in connection with the safekeeping of assets and to allow BNP Paribas to fulfil its other obligations as a depositary (including its regulatory and compliance obligations). Details of how BNP Paribas process personal data is set out in BNP Paribas' data protection notice at the following website link: https://cib.bnpparibas/data-protection-notice/
8.2.3. Sharing your information within our business’ group of companies for internal administrative purposes, including client, customer and employee information.
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including running and managing our business effectively.
- necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including when we need to share your information with other companies in order to be able to meet our contractual obligations to you or to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract, for example because of the information you have requested.
8.2.4. Sharing your information with a prospective or actual purchaser or seller in the context of a business or asset sale or acquisition by us, a merger or similar business combination event, whether actual or potential.
Legal basis for processing:
- legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including sharing your information with a prospective purchaser, seller or similar person in order to allow such a transaction to take place.
8.3. Disclosure and use of your information for legal reasons
8.3.1. Indicating possible criminal acts or threats to public security to a competent authority
If we suspect that criminal or potential criminal conduct has been occurred, we will in certain circumstances need to contact an appropriate authority, such as the police. This could be the case, for instance, if we suspect that a fraud or a cyber crime has been committed or if we receive threats or malicious communications towards us or third parties.
We will generally only need to process your information for this purpose if you were involved or affected by such an incident in some way.
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including in preventing crime or suspected criminal activity (such as fraud).
8.3.2. In connection with the enforcement or potential enforcement our legal rights
We will use your information in connection with the enforcement or potential enforcement of our legal rights, including, for example, sharing information with debt collection agencies if you do not pay amounts owed to us when you are contractually obliged to do so. Our legal rights may be contractual (where we have entered into a contract with you) or non-contractual (such as legal rights that we have under copyright law or tort law).
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including enforcing our legal rights and taking steps to enforce our legal rights.
8.3.3. In connection with a legal or potential legal dispute or proceedings
We may need to use your information if we are involved in a dispute with you or a third party for example, either to resolve the dispute or as part of any mediation, arbitration or court resolution or similar process.
Legal basis for processing:
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), including resolving disputes and potential disputes.
8.3.4. For ongoing compliance with laws, regulations and other legal requirements
We will use and process your information in order to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject. For example, we may need to disclose your information to Companies House should you become a director or pursuant to a court order or subpoena if we receive one or to the National Crime Agency in connection with suspected or potential money laundering matters. We may also need to process and disclose data relating to prospective directors or employees in order to comply with our legal obligations under Equality Act 2010 and disclosure obligations under the FCA's Listing Rules and Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Legal basis for processing:
- compliance with a legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation) including in the field of employment law and FCA Listing Rules and Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. This includes our legal obligations to disclose information which are part of the laws of England and Wales or if they have been integrated into the UK’s legal framework (for example in the form of an international agreement which the UK has signed).
- our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation), Including where the legal obligations are part of the laws of another country and have not been integrated into the UK’s legal framework, we have a legitimate interest in complying with these obligations.
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for and in accordance with applicable law. Specific details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available on request. Criteria which are to be considered in determining the retention periods include the following:
- the purpose(s) and use of your information by us both now and in the future (such as whether it is necessary to continue to store that information in order to continue to perform our obligations under a contract with you or to contact you in the future);
- whether we have any legal obligation to continue to process your information (such as any accounting, record-keeping or reporting obligations imposed by relevant law or regulation);
- whether we have any legal basis to continue to process your information (such as your consent);
- any relevant agreed industry practices on how long information should be retained;
- the levels of risk, cost and liability involved with us continuing to hold the information;
- how hard it is to ensure that the information can be kept up to date and accurate; and
- any relevant surrounding circumstances (such as the nature and status of our relationship with you).
If we have obtained or been provided with your personal data in the context of you applying for a directorship, work or work experience, and your application is successful, the information you provide during the application process will be retained by us as part of your employee file and held in accordance with applicable laws and our employee privacy notice. If your application is unsuccessful, the information you have provided will be retained by us for six months after we have communicated our decision to you. We retain your personal information for that period so that we can show, in the event of a legal claim, that we have not discriminated against candidates on prohibited grounds and that we have conducted the recruitment exercise in a fair and transparent way. After this period, we will securely destroy your personal information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. If we wish to retain your personal information on file, on the basis that a further opportunity may arise in future and we may wish to consider you for that, we will write to you separately, seeking your explicit consent to retain your personal information for a fixed period on that basis.
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to secure your information and to protect it against unauthorised or unlawful use and accidental loss or destruction, including:
- only sharing and providing access to your information to the minimum extent necessary, subject to confidentiality restrictions where appropriate, and on an anonymised basis wherever possible. We limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality;
- using secure servers to store your information;
- verifying the identity of any individual who requests access to information prior to granting them access to information;
- using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software to encrypt any information you submit to us via any forms on our website;
- only transferring your information via closed system; and
- putting in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
Please note that transmission of information over the internet is not entirely secure, and if you submit any information to us over the internet (whether by email, via our website or any other means), you do so entirely at your own risk.
We cannot be responsible for any costs, expenses, loss of profits, harm to reputation, damages, liabilities or any other form of loss or damage suffered by you as a result of your decision to transmit information to us by such means.
Your information may be transferred and stored outside the UK in the circumstances set out below. We will also transfer your information outside the UK or to an international organisation in order to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject (compliance with a court order, for example). Where we are required to do so, we will ensure appropriate safeguards and protections are in place.
Some of the external service providers used by us may be based outside the UK and/or may transfer data outside the UK so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK.
Whenever your personal data is transferred out of the UK by us, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
- We may transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the UK Information Commissioner's Office; and/or
- We may transfer your personal data to third countries, including where we use certain service providers. In such circumstances, we may use standard contractual clauses approved by the UK Information Commissioner's Office or rely on a derogation, such which give personal data the equivalent level of protection it has in the UK.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used when transferring your personal data out of the UK.
Subject to certain limitations on certain rights, you have the following rights in relation to your information, which you can exercise by writing to 14 Queen Anne's Gate, London, SW1H 9AA or sending an email to [email protected]:
- to request access to your personal information and information related to our use and processing of your information (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it;
- to request the correction of information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected;
- to request the erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing.
- to request that we restrict our processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it;
- to receive information which you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (e.g. a CSV file) and the right to have that information transferred to another data controller (including a third party data controller);
- to object to the processing of your information for certain purposes (for further information, see the section below entitled Your right to object to the processing of your information for certain purposes);
- to request the transfer of your personal information to another party; and
- to withdraw your consent to our use of your information at any time where we rely on your consent to use or process that information. Please note that if you withdraw your consent, this will not affect the lawfulness of our use and processing of your information on the basis of your consent before the point in time when you withdraw your consent.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the contact details of which are available here: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Further information on your rights in relation to your personal data as an individual
The above rights are provided in summary form only and certain limitations apply to many of these rights. For further information about your rights in relation to your information, including any limitations which apply, please visit the following pages on the ICO’s website:
- https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/; and
- https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled-correctly/
You can also find out further information about your rights, as well as information on any limitations which apply to those rights, by reading the underlying legislation contained in Articles 12 to 22 and 34 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation, which is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/969514/20201102_-_GDPR_-__MASTER__Keeling_Schedule__with_changes_highlighted__V4.pdf
Verifying your identity where you request access to your information
Where you request access to your information, we are required by law to use all reasonable measures to verify your identity before doing so.
These measures are designed to protect your information and to reduce the risk of identity fraud, identity theft or general unauthorised access to your information.
How we verify your identity
Where we possess appropriate information about you on file, we will attempt to verify your identity using that information.
If it is not possible to identity you from such information, or if we have insufficient information about you, we may require original or certified copies of certain documentation in order to be able to verify your identity before we are able to provide you with access to your information.
We will be able to confirm the precise information we require to verify your identity in your specific circumstances if and when you make such a request.
‘Special category data’ is information about an individual that reveals their racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, genetic information, biometric information for the purpose of uniquely identifying an individual, information concerning health or information concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.
In a recruitment context, we may hold special category data if this is necessary for us to comply with legal and regulatory obligations and for equal opportunities monitoring (see further details below).
Where we process special category data, we ensure that such processing satisfies one of the additional conditions required for processing special categories of personal data. We may process special categories of personal data in the following circumstances:
- in limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent;
- where we need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise rights in connection with employment; and
- where it is needed in the public interest, such as for equal opportunities monitoring or in relation to our occupational pension scheme.
We do not otherwise knowingly or intentionally collect special category data from individuals, and you must not submit special category data to us.
If, however, you inadvertently or intentionally transmit special category data to us, you will be considered to have explicitly consented to us processing that special category data under Article 9(2)(a) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation. We will use and process your special category data for the purposes of deleting it.
Processing of information about criminal convictions
In respect of prospective directors and employees, we envisage that we will process information about criminal convictions. We are required to carry out a criminal records check in order to satisfy ourselves that there is nothing in your criminal convictions history which makes you unsuitable for the role. In particular:
- as a firm regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, we are required to carry out criminal record checks for those carrying out roles within Witan which carry regulatory responsibilities;
- working in the financial services industry requires a high degree of trust and integrity since it involves dealing with, for example, high value client money and so we may seek a basic disclosure of your criminal records history for other roles as well.
We may only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so. We may use information relating to criminal convictions where it is necessary in relation to legal claims, where regulatory requirements relating to unlawful acts and dishonesty apply, where it is necessary to protect your interests (or someone else's interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public.
We will only collect and use information about criminal convictions if it is appropriate given the nature of the role and where we are legally able to do so. Where appropriate, we will collect information about criminal convictions as part of the recruitment process or we may be notified of such information directly by you in the course of you working for us.
We update and amend our Privacy Policy from time to time.
Minor changes to our Privacy Policy
Where we make minor changes to our Privacy Policy, we will update our Privacy Policy with a new effective date stated at the beginning of it. Our processing of your information will be governed by the practices set out in that new version of the Privacy Policy from its effective date onwards.
Major changes to our Privacy Policy or the purposes for which we process your information
Where we make major changes to our Privacy Policy or intend to use your information for a new purpose or a different purpose than the purposes for which we originally collected it (and this is compatible with your original purpose or we have an obligation or function set out in law), we will notify you by email or by posting a notice on our website. If we intend to use your information for a new purpose or a different purpose than the purposes for which we originally collected it (and this is not compatible with your original purpose and we do not have an obligation or function set out in law), we will contact you to obtain your consent.
We will provide you with the information about the change in question and the purpose and any other relevant information before we use your information for that new purpose.
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations under the FCA's Listing Rules and Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, we may process certain data of persons under the age of 18 in the monitoring of share transactions. Otherwise, we do not knowingly contact or collect information from persons under the age of 18. The website is not intended to solicit information of any kind from persons under the age of 18. Whilst we have taken what we consider to be reasonable steps in order to prevent this, it is possible that we may receive personal data of persons under the age of 18 if they are a shareholder and their details are passed to us from institutions (such as investment platforms through which that person holds shares) under section 793 of the Companies Act 2006. Please refer to section 6.2 above for further details of data we may receive following a section 793 request. If we are notified that information we have received relates to a person or persons under the age of 18, we will arrange for that information to be deleted (including by our processors).
It is possible that we could receive information pertaining to persons under the age of 18 by the fraud or deception of a third party. If we are notified of this, as soon as we verify the information, we will, where required by law to do so, immediately obtain the appropriate parental consent to use that information or, if we are unable to obtain such parental consent, we will delete the information from our servers.
If you would like to notify us of our receipt of information about persons under the age of 18, please do so by sending an email to [email protected].
“Do Not Track” is a privacy preference that users based in California can set in their web browsers. When a user turns on a Do Not Track signal in their browser, the browser sends a message to websites requesting that they do not track the user. For information about Do Not Track, please visit www.allaboutdnt.org
At this time, we do not respond to Do Not Track browser settings or signals. In addition, we use other technology that is standard to the internet, such as pixel tags, web beacons, and other similar technologies, to track visitors to the website. Those tools may be used by us and by third parties to collect information about you and your internet activity, even if you have turned on the Do Not Track signal. For information on how to opt out from tracking technologies used on our website, see our cookies policy which is available on our website.