(THE PRIVACY POLICY APPLIES ONLY TO CLIENTS THAT ARE INDIVIDUALS.)
The Consumer Privacy Protection Act and privacy acts in the Provinces of British Columbia and Quebec. (British Columbia Personal Information Protection Act (“BC PIPA”) regulates the way private sector organizations collect, use and disclose personal information. It does not apply to either corporate or not-for-profit organizations.
The Act’s main objective is to ensure personal information collected from clients is used for their stated purpose and to safeguard such information.
“Personal Information” is defined as information about an “identifiable individual”. This includes such things as income, assets, education, home address, phone number and age. It does not cover general contact information such as name, title, business address, business phone number…etc.
Information that IBK has collected for completion of the KYC Form, AML Form and subscription documentation is subject to the requirements of the Act.
IBK recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information received in the conduct of its business. Our privacy policy has been prepared with this objective in mind.
The need for Personal Information
We have collected Personal Information from Investor Clients to meet certain regulatory requirements and to help us evaluate the suitability of the securities you propose to purchase and meet other requirements under securities or anti-money laundering regulation. This information will necessarily include your personal information and, in certain cases, information about other individuals (e.g. spouses, other individuals with trading authority or beneficial interest.)
Collection and Disclosure of Personal Information
IBK will try to collect personal information directly from you. We may also collect personal information from publicly available sources. We will only collect personal information necessary for the purposes stated in the section titled, “The Need for Personal Information.”
Such information may be shared with third parties including the issuer or their counsel to facilitate your investing activities.
We may have to disclose personal information to a securities regulator or other regulatory authorities with jurisdiction over (IBK), if required in the course of a review or other investigation.
Personal information may also be disclosed to comply with the terms of a court order or other legal obligation.
Your Consent
By transacting through IBK, we consider that you have consented to our collection, use and disclosure of personal information to the extent necessary to sell you securities. We further consider you have consented to our sharing such information with third party service providers that assist us in providing the financial offering (See “Collection and Disclosure of Personal Information” above.)
You may withdraw your consent for the use and/or disclosure of personal information at any time, by contacting a representative at the firm and specifying the personal information you no longer wish the Firm to use or disclose. However, this request is subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice.
If you withdraw consent, you will be informed of the implications including the Firm’s inability to sell further securities to you.
Notwithstanding the above, your consent is not required where there is a legitimate interest for retaining the information, that outweighs any potential adverse of doing so without your consent and:
- You would reasonably expect the collection or use of the information for that purpose; and
- The personal information is not collected or used for the purpose of influencing your behaviour or decisions.
When using this exception, we will identify and document any potential adverse effect and take reasonable measures to reduce or mitigate those. A Legitimate Interest would include use of information, to provide a requested financial product or service, to undertake due diligence to prevent or manage commercial risk or, for security and safety purposes, where obtaining consent would be impracticable.
Security of Personal Information
We take our professional and legal obligations, to protect your personal information seriously.
IBK has implemented policies and procedures to secure your personal information against unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification, disposal or destruction.
Requests for Access to Personal Information
Subject to the terms of the Act, you may submit a in writing a request for:
- a record of your personal information under our custody or control;
- the purpose for which such personal information is being used by us; and
- the names of persons to whom your information may be disclosed and, the circumstances under which this will occur.
We will respond to such requests in the time allowed under the Act, and will make a reasonable effort to respond as accurately and completely as possible. Requests may be subject to certain fees in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
Your ability to access your personal information is not absolute. The Act provides that we must not disclose personal information where:
- disclosure could reasonably be expected to threaten the safety or physical or mental health another individual;
- the disclosure would reveal personal information about another individual and their consent is not obtained; or
- the disclosure would reveal the identity of an individual who has, in confidence, provided us with information or an opinion and they do not want disclosure of their identity.
The Act further provides that we may choose not to disclose personal information where:
- the personal information is protected by any legal privilege;
- the disclosure of the information would reveal confidential commercial information, and it is not unreasonable to withhold that information;
- the personal information was collected by us for an investigation or legal proceeding;
- the disclosure of the personal information might result in similar information no longer being provided to us when it is reasonable that it would be provided;
- the personal information was collected or created by a mediator or arbitrator in the conduct of a mediation or arbitration for which he or she was appointed to act under an agreement, under an enactment, or by a court; or
- the personal information relates to or may be used in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
The above examples are not exhaustive, and you are encouraged to examine the provisions of the Act for a complete list.
Requests for Correction of Personal Information
You may also submit a written request to correct errors or omissions in your personal information that is under our custody or control. When provided with a written request, IBK may either:
- correct the personal information and, if reasonable to do so, send correction notifications to any other firm or service provider to whom we previously disclosed such information; or
- decide not to correct the personal information but annotate the personal information that a correction was requested but not made.
Requests to Dispose or Transfer Personal Information
You also have the right to ask that your personal information be disposed of or transferred in a prescribed form to other firms. However, such requests must be provided in writing.
If we receive a written request for the disposal of personal information, we may refuse the request if:
- Disposal would cause personal information about another individual that is not severable (e.g. joint account), also being disposed;
- The information is necessary for the expected ongoing provision of a financial offerings to the individual (unless the information is in relation to a minor)
- There are valid legal or contractual reasons to retain the information such as Firm’s obligation under securities or anti-money launder regulation to maintain client information for certain minimum time periods;
- The information is necessary for the establishment of a legal defence or in the exercise of other legal remedies by the firm; or
- The request is vexatious or made in bad faith.
In such cases, you will receive written notification, explaining, the reasons for the refusal and any recourse you may have.
Contacting or Communicating with Us
If you have questions about how your personal information is handled, or if you wish to request access to, or a correction of, your personal information under our care and control, please contact IBK’s Chief Compliance Officer. Contact details are as follow:
Michael White
Chief Compliance Officer
IBK Capital Corp.
110 Yonge Street, Suite 1601
Toronto, Ontario M5C 1T4
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your personal information, we invite you to contact our Chief Compliance Officer in writing, setting out the reasons for your concern. If you remain dissatisfied, you may wish to contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
The contact information for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and a copy of the Act can be obtained from the following link: