Privacy Policy

Collection of Personal Information
Gerling & Company abide by the National Privacy Principles established under the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2001. As a holder of an Australian Financial Services License we are subject to certain legislative and regulatory requirements which necessitate us obtaining and holding detailed information which personally identifies you and / or contains information or an opinion about you (‘Personal Information’). In order to provide you with a comprehensive advisory and dealing service in securities and / or derivatives (‘Financial Products’) and to have a reasonable basis for recommendations we make, we require certain Personal Information about you such as:

• Employment details
• Details for your financial needs and objectives
• Details of your current financial circumstances, including your income, assets and liabilities
• Details of your investment history and preferences
• Your aversion or tolerance to risk

We will not collect any Personal Information about you except when you have knowingly provided that information to us or authorized a third party to provide that information to us.

Generally collection of your Personal Information will be done in either face to face, by Interviews, over the telephone or by way of a Client Agreement. Additional and / or updated information may be collected from time to time.

We will only collect, maintain and use Personal Information about you if it is necessary for us to adequately provide to you the services you have requested.

Use and Disclosure of Personal Information
We will not use or disclose Personal Information collected by us for any purpose other then

• The purpose for which it was provided or secondary related purposes
• Where you have consented to such disclosure
• Where the National Privacy Principles authorize use or disclosure where required or authorized under law.

We are required under the Corporations Law to make certain information available for inspection by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on request to ensure compliance with licensing and regulatory requirements. This may involve the disclosure of your Personal Information.

We may use the Personal Information collected from you in order to provide you with direct marketing material covering products and services that may be of interest to you. However, you may request not to receive such information and we will give effect to that request.

We may disclose your Personal Information to market operators, clearing and executing brokers and product issuers for the purpose of giving effect to your instructions.

We may disclose your Personal Information to external contractors for the following purposes:

• Execution, clearing and settlement of financial products transactions
• Accounting of financial products transactions
• Causing statutory audits to be conducted as required by law
• Maintenance and service of our information technology systems
• In the course of review by external consultants.

All our external contractors must adhere to this privacy policy and you should be assured that your information will be maintained by any contractor to whom it is disclosed in accordance with this policy.

Document storage and security
Your Personal Information is either held in your client file or in a computer database. We will at all times seek to ensure that the Personal Information collected and held by us is protected from misuse, loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Your Personal Information is treated as confidential. Access to our premises is strictly controlled. Computer Data is backed up regularly.

In the event you cease to be a client of us, any Personal Information which we hold about you will be maintained in a secure storage facility for at least 7 years in order to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements.

Access to your Personal Information
You may request access to your Personal Information and we will (subject to the exceptions below) provide you with access to that information by either providing you with copies of the information requested, allowing you inspection of the information requested or providing you with an accurate summary of the information held. You will require you to provide evidence of your identity.

We will not provide you with access to your Personal Information if

• Providing access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of a person
• Providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others
• The request for access is frivolous or vexatious
• The information related to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between us and would not be discoverable through those proceedings
• Providing access would reveal our intentions in relations to negotiations with you in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations
• Providing access would be unlawful
• Denying access is required or authorized by law
• Providing access would be likely to prejudice certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body.

We will provide the reason if we refuse access to your Personal Information.

Correction of Personal Information
We will endeavour to ensure that, at all times, the Personal Information about you which we hold is up to date and accurate. In the event that you become aware or believe that any Personal Information which we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or outdated, you may contact us and provide to us evidence of the inaccuracy, incompleteness or outdatedness and we will, if we agree that the information requires correcting, take all reasonable steps to correct the information.

Internet Privacy
Gerling & Company’s website contains links to other websites whose operators may or may not adhere to a privacy policy. Our website uses cookies which allow us to identify your browser while you are using our site. Cookies do not identify you they simply allow us to track usage patterns so that we can measure the level of interest in various areas of our site. All browsers allow you to be notified when you receive a cookie and elect to either accept it or not.

Complaints
If you wish to complain about any breach or potential breach of this policy or the National Privacy Principles, you should direct your complaint to the privacy officer:

Claus Gerling
Gerling & Company Pty Ltd
8/174 Willoughby Road
Crows Nest NSW 2065

Tel: 02 9484 2312

Email: claus@gerlingco.com

Your complaint will be considered and responded to in a timely manner. You are entitled to contact the Office of the Privacy Commission if you are unhappy with our response.