Privacy Policy

The privacy of your personal information has always been important to us at Griffin Financial Advisory Pty Ltd. In addition to complying with existing laws that govern confidential information that you provide to us, we are also required to comply with the National Privacy Principles. We will always seek to comply with the National Privacy Principles as well as other applicable laws affecting your personal information.

This privacy policy outlines our policy on how we manage your personal information. It also sets out generally what sort of personal information we hold, for what purposes and how we collect, hold, use and disclose that information.

Collecting Your Personal Information

Your personal information will be collected and held by Griffin Financial advisory Pty Ltd who are authorised representatives of GWM Adviser Services Limited trading as MLC Financial Planning, an Australian Financial Services Licensee, who does not act in the capacity of an authorised representative in relation to securities:

  • providing you with the advisory services that you have requested;
  • managing our relationship with you; or
  • contacting you about products and services in which you may be interested.

To enable your financial or risk advisor to provide you with financial or risk advice you request that is suitable for your investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs we need to obtain and hold personal information about you. This includes:

  • your name, contact details and date of birth;
  • employment details and history;
  • financial details including information about your financial needs and objectives, your current financial circumstances including your assets and liabilities, income, expenditure, insurance cover and superannuation;
  • details of your investment preferences and risk tolerance;
  • family circumstances and social security eligibility; and
  • any other information that we consider necessary.

The personal information collected may include sensitive information such as health information and memberships of professional or trade associations.

If it is reasonable and practicable we will only collect your personal information from you. Generally your personal information will be collected when you meet with your advisor in person, provide your advisor with information over the telephone or with written material. We may need to collect personal information from third parties such as your accountant.

How Your Personal Information is Held

Your personal information is generally held in client files or a computer database. Your personal information may also be held in a secure archiving facility.

We will seek to ensure that we take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we hold is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. Some of the measures that we have adopted are having facilities for the secure storage of personal information, having secure offices and access controls for our computer systems.

We will also take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information that we no longer need for any purpose for which may be used or disclosed under the National Privacy Principles.

Using and Disclosing Your Personal Information

Your personal information may be disclosed for purposes related to the provision to you of the financial or risk advice you have requested. The types of service providers that may be provided with your personal information are:

  • other financial advisors and organisations involved in providing the financial advice you have requested (which may include ongoing service) such as fund managers who assist us in providing financial advice and paraplanners;
  • insurance providers, superannuation trustees and product issuers in connection with the provision to you of the financial advice you have requested;
  • organisations that assist in operating a financial planning business such as those that provide administrative, financial, accounting, insurance, research, legal, computer or other business services;
  • your representatives or service providers such as your accountant, solicitor, tax agent, stockbroker or bank;
  • organisations involved in a business restructure or a transfer of all or part of the assets of our business or the due diligence procedures prior to any such sale or transfer;
  • government authorities and other organisations when required by law; and
  • organisations that you have consented to your personal information being disclosed to.

Your personal information may also be used in connection with such purposes. We will seek to ensure that your personal information is not used or disclosed for any purpose other than:

  • the primary purpose for which it was collected or a purpose that is related to the primary purpose for which it was collected or a related secondary purpose;
  • where you have consented to the use or disclosure; or
  • in other circumstances where the National Privacy Principles authorise the use or disclosure such as when it is required by or authorised under law.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties who provide services to us, in which case we will seek to ensure that the personal information is held, used or disclosed consistently with the National Privacy Principles.

Accessing your Personal Information

You can gain access to your personal information that we hold. This is subject to exceptions allowed by law such as where providing you with access would have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of others. If we deny a request for access we will provide you with the reasons for this decision. To request access please contact us (see “Contacting Us and Privacy Issues” below).

Correcting Your Personal Information

We endeavour to take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you believe that any of the personal information that we hold is not accurate, complete or up-to-date please contact us (see “Contacting Us and Privacy Issues” below) and provide us with evidence that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date.

If we agree that the personal information requires correcting we will take reasonable steps to do so. If we do not correct your personal information we will provide you with the reasons for not correcting your personal information. If you request that we associate with the information a statement claiming that the information is not accurate, complete and up-to-date we will take reasonable steps to comply with this request.

Contacting Us and Privacy Issues

You can obtain further information on request about the way in which we manage the personal information that we hold or you can raise any privacy issues with us by contacting us on (02) 8901 4885.

Consent to Marketing Activity

We presume you consent to being contacted by us about suitable products and services via the contact details you have provided. We may continue to contact you for these reasons until you withdraw your consent. You can do this at any time by contacting your adviser. If you would like to know more about our privacy policy, please contact your adviser. For more information about your privacy, you can visit the Federal Privacy Commissioner’s website at www.privacy.gov.au.