1. Introduction
The objective of this Personal Data Policy Statement (“Policy”) is to provide you with information with respect to how CITIC Securities Philippines, Inc. (formerly known as CLSA Philippines, Inc.) (“CITICS Philippines”) (as well as its representatives and/or agents) collects and processes personal information and sensitive personal information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations on data privacy, including the Data Privacy Act of 2012 of the Philippines and its implementing rules and regulations (“DPA”). For the purposes of this Policy, “Affiliates” means any legal entity that, at any time, is directly or indirectly: (i) controlling CITICS Philippines; (ii) controlled by CITICS Philippines; (iii) under common control with CITICS Philippines; or (iv) controlled by CITIC Securities International Company Limited (“CSI”), including CSI itself. References in this Policy to “we”, “us” and “our” mean CITICS Philippines and, where the context requires, will also include any company in the CLSA Group, or persons connected with the CLSA Group. For this purpose, “CLSA Group” shall mean CITICS Philippines together with all Affiliates of CITICS Philippines.
We ask that you read this Policy carefully as it contains important information regarding the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Data (as defined below).
In addition, this Policy is intended to provide you with sufficient information to enable you to notify and obtain consent from any natural person (a “Relevant Person”) whose Personal Data may have been provided or may be provided by you or your agent to us from time to time. As used in this Policy, a “data subject” refers to a natural person whose personal, sensitive personal, or privileged information is processed.
This Policy supplements but does not supersede or replace any other consents you may have previously provided to us in respect of your Personal Data, and your consents herein are additional to any rights which we may have at law to collect, use or disclose your Personal Data.
2. Personal Data
In this Policy, “Personal Data” refers to any data about you or a Relevant Person, whether true or not, which would identify you or such natural person (as the case may be), or from which such identity can be reasonably and directly ascertained when put together with other information.
Examples of such Personal Data you may provide us include your name, license details, passport or other identification number, telephone number(s), age, marital status, mailing address, email address and any other information relating to you or any Relevant Person that you have provided or may provide to us in application forms or through any other interaction.
3. Purposes for the Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Data
Generally, we collect, use, disclose and/or process Personal Data for the following purposes:
- processing applications for account opening, account closing, account maintenance and operations relating to your account(s);
- processing your applications or requests for services and/or products;
- providing broker-dealer services and/or products to you, including the services and products of external providers;
- managing your relationship with us and/or administration of your account with us including (where you act as agent for another party) those of your underlying principals;
- carrying out your instructions or responding to your enquiries or feedback;
- conducting identity and/or credit checks, and carrying out customer due diligence and other checks and screenings and ongoing monitoring that may be required under RA 9160 (Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001), US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) or any applicable law, regulation or directive or internal policies and procedures of CLSA or its Affiliates (including but not limited to those designed to combat bribery and corrupt practices, money laundering, terrorist financing and financial crime);
- preventing, detecting and investigating fraud, misconduct or any unlawful activities, whether or not requested by any relevant governmental or regulatory authority, and analyzing and managing commercial risks;
- complying with all applicable laws, regulations, rules, directives, orders, instructions and requests from any governmental, tax, law enforcement, exchanges, clearing houses or other authorities (whether local or foreign or whether or not it has judicial or legal authority);
- managing our infrastructure, business operations and employees, and complying with our policies and procedures that may be required by applicable laws and regulations including those relating to risk control, compliance, security, audit, finance and accounting, human resources, systems and business continuity;
- addressing or investigating any complaints, claims or disputes;
- developing new services and/or products and updating you on our products and services from time to time;
- unless you have indicated your preference to opt out, providing you with marketing, advertising and promotional information, materials and/or documents relating to banking, investment, credit and/or financial products and/or services that we may be selling, marketing, offering or promoting, whether existing now or developed in the future;
- carrying out research, planning and statistical analysis;
- organizing promotional events; and
- enforcing our legal and/or contractual rights against you including, but not limited to, recovering any and all amounts owed to us,
(collectively, the “Purposes”)
4. Consent
By interacting with us and submitting information to us, or signing up for any products or services offered by us, you represent and agree that:
- we shall collect, use, disclose and share Personal Data for the Purposes stated in this Policy;
- we shall be authorised to disclose such Personal Data to our authorised service providers and relevant third parties in the manner set forth in this Policy and in the DPA; and
- each Relevant Person has consented to our collection, use, disclosure and/or process of his/her Personal Data for the Purposes stated above, and such Relevant Person has been informed of and has accepted this Policy.
If you do not wish for us to continue using your Personal Data for any of the Purposes, you may withdraw your consent at any time by notifying us (see Section 13). Depending on the circumstances, your withdrawal of consent may result in our inability to provide you with the services and/or products that we have been offering to you, and consequently, may result in the termination of your relationship and/or accounts with us.
Where the personal data protection laws of the relevant jurisdictions permit us to collect, use or disclose the Personal Data without your or the Relevant Person’s consent, such permission granted by law will continue to apply.
5. Direct marketing
We may, from time to time, and with your consent as required by applicable law, use the Personal Data provided by you for direct marketing purposes. In this regard, please note that:
(i) Your Personal Data, including your name, contact details (such as email addresses and phone numbers), product and service preferences, transaction history, financial background, and demographic data, may be used by CITICS Philippines and shared with its Affiliates, or with third-party subcontractors, agents, or service providers who work for us, whether located locally or overseas, for the purposes of direct marketing.
(ii) The types of services, products, and subjects that may be marketed to you, whether currently available or developed in the future by CLSA or its Affiliates, include:
- News, updates, offers, and promotional information;
- Investment, financial, insurance products or services;
- Reward, loyalty, or privilege programs, along with related offerings; and
- Products and services provided by our co-branding partners.
(iii) The above services, products, and offers may be communicated or solicited through the following channels:
- Email, telephone, mobile application, SMS and other electronic means
- Either directly to you or through your representatives/contact persons, if you are a corporate entity.
6. Disclosure, Sharing and Transfer of Personal Data Overseas
As a global financial institution, our services are supported by certain entities within the CLSA Group. These entities process your data as necessary to operate effectively, efficiently, and securely in facilitating transactions and providing products and services to our clients.
From time to time, we may also send your Personal Data overseas whenever it is necessary for the performance of, but not limited to, providing products and services to you, fulfilling the client agreement, complying with legal requirements, conducting direct marketing activities or other purpose listed below. Such transfers may involve sharing your data with CLSA and its Affiliates and third-party subcontractors, agents, or service providers working for us that operate or store data outside your local jurisdiction. Where your information is sent overseas, it is likely to be in the following jurisdictions: Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, India, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
CLSA may provide Personal Data to the following classes of persons for one or more of the Purposes set out in section 3 above:
- other members of the CLSA Group;
- any third party service providers, including archival management service providers, subject to the provisions of the DPA; (Upon request by you we may provide you (where available) with the privacy policies of third parties to whom we provide your Personal Data)
- our professional advisers (including lawyers) and agents or third parties necessary for us performing/providing services to you (including our executing brokers, clearing houses and settlement agents);
- our auditors (internal and external);
- any person to whom disclosure is permitted or required by law or any court order;
- any local or foreign government agencies, regulatory authorities and statutory bodies having jurisdiction over us; and
- any of their respective successors and assigns.
The Personal Data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside Philippines. It may also be processed by individuals operating outside your local jurisdiction who work for CLSA Group or for our suppliers. At CITICS Philippines, we are committed to protecting your Personal Data and your privacy. Where your Personal Data is sent outside your local jurisdiction, we ensure that appropriate data handling, security measures, and legal safeguards are in place. We employ a range of measures to keep your information safe and secure, which may include encryption and other security measures. Our employees and any third parties who carry out work for us must comply with appropriate compliance standards, including the responsibility to protect any information and implement appropriate measures for its use and transfer.
7. Retention
Personal Data will be held for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected or as required or permitted by applicable laws. We will retain Personal Data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the Purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable law. Retention periods are determined based on the nature of the data and the legal, regulatory, and business requirements applicable to our services.
8. Data Security
We have taken and will continue to take reasonable efforts to protect Personal Data in our possession or control by making reasonable security arrangements to prevent unauthorised access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification, disposal or similar risks.
While we strive to protect your Personal Data, we cannot ensure the security of any Personal Data which you may have transmitted to us via methods using an insecure browser, and we urge you to take every precaution to protect your Personal Data and use a secure browser.
9. Updates to the Data Protection Policy
We may update this Policy to ensure that it is consistent with our future developments, industry trends and/or any changes in legal or regulatory requirements. Such changes will be posted on our website.
Such changes to our Policy shall apply from the time that we post the same on this website https://www.clsa.com/terms-of-business/. Your continued use of our service will be taken as acceptance of and consent to the updated Policy.
10. Cookies
A cookie is an alphanumeric identifier which we transfer to your hard drive through your web browser when you visit our website. It enables our own system to recognise you when you visit our website again and improve our service to you. The information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. For further information about cookies visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. Cookies may also be used to compile aggregate information about areas of our website that are visited most frequently. This traffic information can be used to enhance the content of our website and make your use of it easier. If you wish to reject our cookie, you can configure your browser to do so. However, in a few cases some of our website features may not function if you remove cookies from your browser.
11. Third Party Websites
We are not responsible for the any of the websites linked by our website. We shall not responsible for the content of any other websites or pages linked to or linking to our website and usage of any of such linked websites or pages. Such links are provided solely for your convenience and information. Following links to any other websites or pages shall be at your own risk.
12. Rights of the Data Subjects
Under the DPA, you have the right to request in writing to:
- be informed whether Personal Data are being, or have been processed
- object to the processing of his/her Personal Data;
- reasonable access to his/her Personal Data;
- dispute inaccuracy or error in his/her Personal Data;
- suspend, withdraw or order blocking, removal or destruction of his/her Personal Data;
- damages sustained by you due to our processing of such informed inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, false, Personal Data or damages sustained due to unlawfully obtained or unauthorized use of your Personal Data; and
- data portability.
13. Contacting Us
If you wish to withdraw your consent for us to use your personal data for direct marketing or any of purposes outlined above at any time in the future, you must notify us formally of your decision to withdraw. Please note that in certain circumstances, withdrawal may prevent us from providing certain products or services to you. Your withdrawal will not retrospectively affect the lawfulness of our prior collection, use, or disclosure of your data based on your consent prior to withdrawal.
For any inquiries, complaints regarding this privacy notice or to withdraw your consent, please contact:
Data Protection Officer
CITIC Securities Philippines, Inc.
19th Floor Ayala Triangle Gardens Tower 2
Paseo de Roxas corner Makati Avenue
Makati City, Philippines 1226
Email: dpo-ph@clsa.com
Telephone: +63 8860 4000