Introduction
This is the website of Independent Banking Consultants Ltd, and of members of the Independent Banking Consultants franchise network.
Our privacy policy has been updated in the light of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016. It clarifies what kind of personal information we hold, how we use it and how we store it. We take individual privacy seriously and will not collect any personal data that we do not need for our legitimate business activities. We have never, and will not, sell anyone’s information to third parties.
We separate the data we hold on individuals according to our relationship with them. Individuals can be clients of ours, business contacts (including in both cases directors and shareholders of limited companies) or lenders. We do not keep personal information about anyone who we have not met or corresponded with. We do not purchase marketing lists.
Clients
These are individuals for whom we have acted in a professional capacity (or whose businesses we have acted for). If you are a client then we will hold on file information such as your name, address, age, contact information, information to properly identify you, copy bank statements, other financial information (such as personal asset/liability and income/expenditure statements), your skills and qualifications, your experience and track record in relation to your business activities, where relevant any physical capabilities; plus any other information that we are obliged to obtain for legal or regulatory reasons. This is not an exhaustive list because each business is different and we may need to see other information not listed here.
We need the information to:
- Complete the service that you ask us to provide
- Assess possible solutions for the financing needs of you/ your business and identify suitable lenders
- Prepare application forms and reports for lenders
- Comply with our fraud prevention duties
- And for internal purposes such as training, quality control, audits, analysis and record keeping
We might share your information with others and use it in a variety of ways, for example:
- With our employees, associated companies and possibly employees of our franchise offices, to assess the data and incorporate it into any application forms or reports that we write
- With lenders in connection with borrowing applications
- Lenders may need to share with their employees or group/ associated companies any data that they receive from us; and possibly use it to carry out credit reference searches
- Depending on the nature of the work we are doing for you, possibly with your advisors or other relevant third parties who act for you
- We might in the course of our work share your data with fraud prevention agencies and credit reference agencies
- We would also disclose it were we legally required to do so; if there was a duty to the public to disclose; if disclosure is required to protect our interest; if it was needed by legal or regulatory bodies to which we are subject; or if disclosure was at your request or with your consent
Business contacts
Business contacts might be prospective clients of ours, anyone who introduces business to us, accountants, mortgage brokers, business advisors, business owners/ managers, independent financial advisors, insolvency practitioners, lawyers, or membership organisations (such as Chambers of Commerce).
If you are a business contact then we will hold on file information such as your name, address, contact information, possibly your skills and qualifications; plus any other information that we are obliged to obtain for legal or regulatory reasons. If you are or were a prospective client of ours then, depending on the extent of our discussions with you, we might additionally hold on file information to properly identify you, copy bank statements, other financial information (such as personal asset/liability and income/expenditure statements), your experience and track record in relation to your business activities, and where relevant any physical capabilities.
We need the information to:
- Communicate with you
- Suggest sources of help and specialist advice for our clients
- To introduce you to people we know, either proactively or when requested
- Send you our e-newsletter
- Comply with our fraud prevention duties
- And for internal purposes such as record keeping and statistical analysis
We might share your information with others and use it in a variety of ways, for example:
- With our employees, associated companies and possibly employees of our franchise offices
- To make business referrals and connect people, either by email or telephone
- We would also disclose it were we legally required to do so; if there was a duty to the public to disclose; if disclosure is required to protect our interest; if it was needed by legal or regulatory bodies to which we are subject; or if disclosure was at your request or with your consent
- Additionally, for prospective clients we might share information with lenders when making initial enquiries on your behalf; or with fraud prevention agencies and credit reference agencies
Lenders
If you are a lender then we will hold on file information such as your name, address, contact information; information about your role, where you have worked, your skills and lending specialisms; plus any other information that we are obliged to obtain for legal or regulatory reasons.
We need the information to:
- Communicate with you
- Maintain our database of lenders that we use to identify potential lenders for each client
- Contact you to discuss lending opportunities
- Send you our e-newsletter
- And for internal purposes such as record keeping and statistical analysis
We might share your information with others and use it in a variety of ways, for example:
- With our employees, associated companies and employees of our franchise offices, so that we/they can deliver our services
- We would also disclose it were we legally required to do so; if there was a duty to the public to disclose; if disclosure is required to protect our interest; if it was needed by legal or regulatory bodies to which we are subject; or if disclosure was at your request or with your consent
Storage of information
We store your data and keep it as securely as is reasonably possible. We have a Data Protection system in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your information. All the data we use is stored electronically on our encrypted cloud-based server in the UK. Our cloud service provider backs up the data daily. As a precautionary measure, we keep a further copy of the data on a hard drive that is kept in a locked safe at our Bedford office. No third parties have access to your personal data unless the law allows them to do so.
We retain data for a minimum of six years as required by law. For insurance purposes, we reserve the right to keep some data for longer than six years; for example copies of finance proposals and other reports produced by us, which may include personal data.
We keep contact information indefinitely, or until someone asks us not to contact them.
Our web site
Our web server does not automatically recognise a visitor’s domain or e-mail address. We collect aggregate information about which pages they access or view, user-specific information on the pages they access or visit and information volunteered by the visitor, such as survey information and/or site registrations. We do not set any cookies. The information we collect is used for internal review, to improve the content of our web site, and to notify visitors about updates to our web site: it is then discarded. We do not partner with or have special relationships with any ad server companies. We do not share visitors’ information with other organisations for commercial purposes.
Your preferences
Upon request we provide site visitors, clients, business contacts and lenders with access to contact information (e.g. name, address, phone number) that we maintain about them, and to have any inaccuracies corrected.
Contact us
Our Head Office address is:
Independent Banking Consultants Ltd, 61-63 St Peters Street, Bedford, MK40 2PR
You can contact us via e-mail at enquiries@independentbankers.
or by telephone at +44 (0) 1234 262620
If you do not want to receive e-mail from us in the future, please let us know by sending an e-mail to enquiries@independentbankers.co.uk