Berkeley La Roche Financial Consultants Limited is committed to protecting the privacy of its users and we therefore ask that you please read our Privacy Policy before providing us with any information about you or any other person.
Berkeley La Roche Financial Consultants Limited (Company No. 4021260) office is based at The Granary Warmlake Business Estate, Sutton Valence, Maidstone, Kent ME17 3LR, which, for the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998, is the same address for The Data Protection Officer.
This policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who require independent financial advice. The policy also explains how we use that information, the conditions under which we may disclose information to others and how we keep personal information secure.
When using the term “personal data” in our Privacy Policy, we mean information that relates to you and allows us to identify you, either directly or in combination with other information that we may hold.
Any questions regarding our privacy policy should be sent to:
Data Protection Officer
Berkeley La Roche Financial Consultants Limited
The Granary
Warmlake Business Estate
Sutton Valence
Maidstone
Kent ME17 3LR
Who are we?
Berkeley La Roche was formed in December 2000 and we specialise in providing face to face independent wealth management services and impartial financial advice to higher net worth individuals and businesses.
Regulation
We are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As financial advisers, we act on behalf of our clients and are bound by our regulators to offer best advice which complies with the concept of ‘suitability’. This helps to ensure that the right advice is given and the most suitable products and services that meet the client’s specific requirements are identified and recommended.
How we collect information from you
We do not collect information about you via our website. In the majority of cases, we personally meet with all new or existing clients, either at their place of work, home, or at the Berkeley La Roche offices. Information is collected via direct conversations with our clients and documentation provided by clients.
What type of information is collected?
The personal information we collect (fact-find) will invariably include your name, address, contact numbers and email address as well as information about your health, lifestyle, attitude to risk, personal finances and investments. This enables us to provide you with the most appropriate independent advice and wealth management solution.
We will also ask you to provide evidence of your identity, such as a copy of your passport, driving licence, proof of residence or income. We are required to ask for this information to comply with legislation such as Money Laundering regulations and the Financial Services Act.
Cookies
Our website does not use cookies. The website does not store or capture personal information about you when you visit it. We do this in order to respect our visitors’ rights of privacy.
How we use your personal information
We use personal information about you in connection with the following purposes:
- to provide you with the information, products and services that you have requested from us
- to complete any transaction, you are undertaking with us
- to service and monitor your various plans, policies and portfolios, including fund performance information relating to your investments / pensions / savings / platform account
- to meet our legal or regulatory obligation.
Service improvements:
- to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you
- to administer our internal business administration and operations, including data analysis and research
- to notify you about changes to our service
- as part of our efforts, to keep our financial services operations safe and secure
Marketing:
- as part of our service – including changes in tax, investment or pension legislation and our regulatory or legal obligations, to provide you with information about the services we offer or that may have been enquired about
If you do not want your personal information to be used for marketing purposes, please contact Berkeley La Roche.
Your individual rights
The accuracy of your information is important to us. If you do not want us to use your personal information in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy, or if you need to advise us of any changes to your personal information or would like any more information about the way in which we collect and use your personal information, please contact us at Berkeley La Roche Financial Consultants Limited, The Granary, Warmlake Business Estate, Sutton Valence, Maidstone, Kent ME17 3LR or by telephone on 01622 843694.
Opting Out
Apart from regular client servicing, or our regulatory or legal obligations, you have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive information from us.
We will not contact you for marketing purposes unless you have given your prior consent. You can change your marketing preferences at any time by contacting the Berkeley La Roche offices.
Requests for access to Personal Information
We are happy to provide you with details of your personal information that we hold or process. To protect our customers’ personal information we follow strict storage and disclosure procedures, which means that we will require proof of identity from you prior to disclosing such information. We may charge a small administration fee in relation to any requests for access to personal information.
Please direct any such request to the Data Protection Officer, Berkeley La Roche Financial Consultants Limited, The Granary, Warmlake Business Estate, Sutton Valence, Maidstone, Kent ME17 3LA.
Raising a complaint about how we have handled your personal data
If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer, as set out above, who will then investigate the matter. If you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – details can be found at: https://ico.org.uk/concerns
Sharing your personal information
Depending on the recommendations given or the service we are providing, we may pass your information to insurance company administration centres, third party service providers, analysis software providers (i.e. O&M), investment houses, banks, building societies, pension & investment fund platform providers and other associated organisations, for the purposes of completing the tasks and providing the services to you, on our behalf.
These third parties may include:
- Fund managers, platform providers, insurers, annuity providers / agents or insurance brokers, to enable us to obtain a whole of market quote for you or provide you with other related services.
- Credit reference agencies (mortgage applications) and other companies for use in credit decisions and fraud prevention.
When we use third party service providers, we disclose the personal information that is required / necessary to deliver the service. These providers have a duty of care to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes.
We work with all the various third-party product and service providers to bring you an extensive range of high quality wealth, financial planning and pension management solutions. When you enquire about or invest in one or more of these products (investment platforms etc.) or services, the relevant third-party provider will use your details to carry out their obligations arising from any contracts you have entered into with them. These third-party providers will share your information with us, which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
As advisors, we often deal direct with a client’s (or Company) accountant or solicitors. In which case, it is the client / Company that give their permission.
As always, we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal or regulatory obligation. However, we will take steps to ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected.
Keeping your information safe
Here at Berkeley La Roche, we take our responsibility to look after your personal information and privacy seriously. In today’s world, we have all seen a growing trend in cybercrime and security breaches. We have security measures in place to help prevent fraud and cybercrime.
If we become aware that a personal data breach has occurred and is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of our clients or employees, we will inform them without undue delay.
We advise and train our employees on their information security, fraud prevention and privacy obligations.
Our employees and directors take part in Security and Awareness programs and must agree to adhere to the Data Protection Act and our own Security Policy, which are designed to keep your information safe. These are reviewed and amended to reflect the current (and future) trends that are being observed across the information security landscape.
When we use email to correspond with you or share information with you, all electronic information sent by us is via Opportunist Transport Layer Security (TLS):
TLS – meaning that emails will be sent in the most secure way that is achievable. If the email recipient server accepts TLS connections, then the delivery of emails will be via an encrypted TLS connection.
However, if the recipients mail server only accepts basic SMTP connections, then emails will be delivered in plain text format (i.e. unencrypted). If clients are not aware if their server can accept TLS communications, then it is often best practice to call the office, fax the documents or send in the post (recorded-delivery).
We will always interact with you in a method you are most comfortable with and that is safe and in a consistent manner
To keep your information secure and to protect our clients from fraud, Berkeley La Roche will only interact with you in the following ways.
When interacting with you, we will:
Forward requests for income, lump sum withdrawals or tax-free cash to the appropriate life office/provider/investment house, together with verified proof of receiving bank account in your name.
Verify who you are when speaking to you on the phone, by asking relevant security questions – if needed.
If in doubt, call Berkeley La Roche or alternatively email the Data Protection Officer.
We will not:
Ask you for any personal password information over the phone.
Send you an unsolicited email with a link to a login page asking you to enter your credentials.
Ask you for payment or credit card details by email – without sending formal details (invoice) or calling you.
We continue to review our administration and security controls, in the light of current and future changes in the Data Protection Laws.
Physical controls
As well as your digital information, Berkeley La Roche also protects their premises, where personal data may be used and stored. These measures include security entrance, 24-hour CCTV and locks on all external doors and windows, to ensure information is locked away and protected.
Logical controls
Berkeley La Roche uses technical security measures to make sure our systems, where we store and use personal information, are protected from unauthorised access. Tools such as antivirus, firewalls, malware detection and back-up procedures are used.
We conduct IT security overview and risk assessments to identify and control risks:
- To mitigate the risks that could lead to the significant disruption of our products and services to our clients.
- Via our IT advisors, to support a timely and full restoration of our products and services for our clients
However, whilst we take appropriate measures to safeguard your personal information, please note that we cannot guarantee the security of any data that you electronically transfer to us.
Transferring your information outside of the European Union
We have clients (and providers) in many different countries and the information which you provide to us may be transferred from countries outside the European Union (“EU”). We endeavour to ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy.
If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred back to you whilst you are still outside the EU, in order to provide you with those services.
If your personal information changes, please let us know and we will correct, update or remove any information that we hold about you on our client file database.
We do need to retain archive copies of personal information, status details, copy documentation, Money Laundering proof, application forms and analysis and report recommendations for legal, regulatory or audit purposes. If you have any queries regarding our legal or regulatory responsibility, please contact our office.
Monitoring
Please note that if you communicate with us by post or electronically, including e-mail, telephone or fax, this communication may be randomly monitored and/or noted for legal or regulatory purposes or to protect the interests of our business and our customers.
This includes for the purposes of maintaining customer/service quality standards, detection of and/or prevention of crime (Money Laundering) and to ensure that Berkeley La Roche employees comply with legal and regulatory obligations as well as Berkeley La Roche’s policies and protocols.
We may continue to make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time, including as part of the new European data protection legislation, which comes into effect on 25 May 2018 (the “General Data Protection Regulation”). We will update our website with any new version of our Privacy Policy.
