WE RESPECT YOUR PRIVACY
Protecting your personal information and respecting your privacy is of paramount importance to Reeves Financial Services Inc. Privacy legislation is relatively recent; however, since our inception we have made it a top priority to safeguard the sensitive personal information of our clients.
The collection and use of personal information is fundamental to the business of providing financial products and services. It is important that we have your trust in our handling of your personal information.
PRIVACY PRINCIPLES
These principles are set out in the Canadian government’s privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
1) Accountability: We are responsible for the personal information under our control and we have designated employees who are accountable for following the Privacy Principles.
2) Identifying purposes: The purposes for which personal information is collected shall be identified by us at or before the time the information is collected.
3) Consent: Your consent is required for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information, subject to certain exceptions. For example legal, medical or security reasons may make it impossible or impractical to seek consent. Consent may be given in writing, verbally, electronically, or through our or your authorized representatives. In certain circumstances, it may also be implied.
4) Limiting collection: The collection of personal information shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by us, and personal information shall be collected by fair and lawful means.
5) Limiting use, disclosure and retention: Personal information shall not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with your consent or as required by law. Personal information shall be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.
6) Accuracy: Personal information that is collected, used or disclosed should be as accurate, complete and as up-to-date as is necessary for the purpose for which it is to be used.
7) Safeguards: Personal information shall be protected by security safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. We will take all necessary steps to protect your personal information from unwarranted intrusion, release or misuse.
8) Openness: Information about our privacy policies and practices for handling your personal information shall be made readily available to you.
9) Individual access: Upon written request, we will inform you of the existence, use and disclosure of your personal information and you will be given access to it, subject to certain exceptions, as permitted by law. You will be able to challenge the accuracy and completeness of your information, and request that it be amended, when appropriate.
10) Inquiries and concerns: You shall be able to address any concern regarding compliance with the above principles to the people responsible for our organization’s compliance.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
A. The information collected
When you obtain a product or service from Reeves Financial Services Inc., we will tell you the purposes for which we need the personal information we collect. Personal information is information that refers to you, specifically.
Information will be collected by a lawful means and only the information that is pertinent will be collected.
When possible, we will collect the required information from you, or from your authorized representative, in applications and forms, through the telephone, mail or the Internet, and through your direct business dealings with us.
In instances where information is collected by telephone, the call may be monitored and/or recorded for the following purposes:
1) To maintain a high level of service;
2) To take and/or verify your instructions:
3) To maintain a record of the information you have provided to us;
4) To assist in the training of staff.
You retain the option of corresponding with us in writing if you are uncomfortable with having your telephone calls monitored and/or recorded.
B. What we need to know and why we need to know it
Information is only collected from you with your consent, or if applicable, when required or permitted by law. In general, we will collect personal information such as your name, address, telephone number(s) or other identifying information, such as your Social Insurance Number (SIN) or date of birth.
Depending on the type of product or service, additional information may be collected. In general, your personal information is used to:
- Confirm your identity.
- Protect you and us against errors, fraud and misrepresentations.
- Evaluate your financial situations and needs to determine the products and services that best suit you.
- Determine your eligibility for the products and services that are offered by our suppliers.
- Administer the products and services we have provided to you.
- Comply with the tax reporting requirements of Canada’s Income Tax Act, and any other legal requirements that may apply.
- To keep up to date with the current and future needs of our customers, including customer surveys and market research.
- Provide you with information on other products and services offered by or through Reeves Financial Services Inc.
Personal information will be kept in our records as long as it is needed for the identified purpose or as long as is required by law. Information that is no longer needed will be destroyed, erased or made anonymous. Caution will be taken and safeguards will be used to ensure that there is no unauthorized access to your information during the destruction process.
Your Social Insurance Number is needed for several reasons. In order to meet tax reporting requirements under Canada’s Income Tax Act, your SIN is required by law where there may be interest income or other income to be reported. With your permission, we may also you use your SIN as an identifier to keep separate your personal information from the personal information of those that may have a similar name. You may choose to only have your SIN used for purposes required by law.
C. Your consent
Your personal information is collected and used only for the disclosed purposes and only with your consent, or as permitted or required by law. Your consent may be given in writing, verbally, electronically or through our, or your, authorized representative(s), such as your Insurance and Wealth Advisor.
In certain instances, your consent may be implied. For instance, if you present your driver’s license as identification, it is understood that you are consenting to provide us with your driver’s license reference numbers to be kept on record. Also, for the same purposes we may then in turn provide that information to a product or service supplier.
From time to time, in order to grow our business and provide you with new products and services, we may inform you of new uses for your personal information. Depending on the sensitivity of the personal information to be used, we may seek your express consent.
In some cases your consent may be implied. You will be provided with the chance to “opt out” of the implied consent to the new use or disclosure of your personal information. If you choose not to “opt out” it is implied that you are consenting to the new use or disclosure.
Unless legal or contractual reasons prevent you from doing so, you may choose to withdraw or withhold your consent to collection, use or disclosure of your personal information. However, in some instances, the withdrawal of your consent may impact our ability to provide you with the products and services you have requested and may impact our ability to provide you with the highest level of service possible.
D. Who has access to your information?
In general, access to your information is restricted to those who have the need to and the right to access the information. This may include:
- Employees, agents and representatives of Reeves Financial Services, who may need the information to perform their duties.
- Our suppliers or affiliates, to deal with your concerns about a product or service or to assist in other required investigations.
- Services providers, who may need the information to perform their duties and meet their obligations to us.
- Anyone to whom you gave consent.
- Anyone who is authorized by law, such as regulators, law enforcement agencies and other government agencies. In instances where your personal information may be provided to jurisdictions outside of Canada, your personal information will be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.
E. Service providers and Affiliates
We may need to provide your personal information to our services providers such as investment settlement services, mail data storage, printing, processing, IT services, medical underwriting services, insurance services, administration and marketing. If personal information is provided to a service provider, they are required to protect the information in a manner consistent with our privacy policies.
F. Accessing and amending your information
We will make all reasonable efforts to ensure that any personal information we collect and keep is as accurate, complete and as up-to-date as required for the identified purposes. To do so, we will rely to a large extent on you to provide us with accurate information and to inform us of changes, such as changes to your contact information. You have the right to access and verify your personal information maintained in our files, and to request that any factually inaccurate personal information be corrected, if appropriate. Depending on the circumstances, we may not always be able to give you access to all information, or there may be a charge for personal information that you request. Should this happen, we will let you know.
G. Safeguards
We are committed to protecting your personal information from unauthorized access or use, by ensuring that the necessary physical, organizational and technological safeguards are in place, that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.
Essentially, this means that personal information is protected:
- Physically, by building security measures and physical barriers.
- Organizationally, by our policies, procedures and access levels.
- Technologically by, for example, where appropriate, the use of passwords, encryption, firewalls, and anti-virus software.
All of our employees, representatives, agents and service providers, who act on our behalf, are required to abide by our privacy policies and practices.
If we receive a request to release your personal information, we will only do so upon satisfactory identification and proof of entitlement of the requestor, or as required or permitted by law.
Our Privacy Officer is: Christopher J. Heywood - Phone: 905.521.0909 Ext. 231 – Facsimile: 905.521.5748
