Effective from March 2022
1. Introduction
General Finance Limited (“GFL”) is committed to protect your privacy and to comply with the New Zealand Privacy Act, 2020 (“the Act”) when dealing with personal information. Personal information is information about an identifiable individual (a natural person).
This policy sets out how we, at GFL, will collect, use, disclose and protect your personal information and does not limit, or exclude, any of your rights under the Act. You can obtain further information on the Act, at www.privacy.org.nz.
GFL is a licensed non-bank deposit taker operating in the New Zealand market. It accepts deposits from the New Zealand public and makes short term loan advances secured over New Zealand residential property. In terms of its business GFL operates in full compliance of its applicable license and regulatory framework which requires obtaining verified personal information from investors and borrowers.
2. Consent
By engaging with us and providing us with your personal information you acknowledge that you have read and understood our Privacy Policy and in doing so you authorise us, and consent to, the collection, storage, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the Act.
We collect personal information about you from you, when you provide personal information to us, including via our website and any related service we provide, through any contact with us (eg. telephone call or email), or when you use our investment or loan services and products. This includes your personal information from third parties, such as brokers or financial advisors, where you have authorised such persons or otherwise, or if the information is publicly available.
If possible, we will collect personal information directly from you.
3. Collecting your Personal Information
We will only collect your personal information for lawful purposes and only where necessary in relation to GFL’s business. GFL is required to adhere strictly to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing Terrorism Act, 2009 (AML/CFT) and its requirements to conduct customer due diligence on our investors and borrowers.
The type of personal information you submit and as required by us, will depend on the nature of your business relationship with us and may include, but not limited to your:
- identity, verified by passport and driver’s license or other acceptable documents;
- contact details, such as email, telephone, mobile numbers and business and residence details;
- financial information including your income, assets, expenditure, debts and bank statements;
- your employment, profession or business details including your position and work history;
- security information relating to your property including assets such as residential property, business property, shareholdings, vehicle details, insurance policies and personal assets;
- if applicable, details of shareholdings and trusts including beneficiaries and related information;
- IRD number and tax status;
- bureau information relating to credit history, politically exposed persons, anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism information;
In submitting such personal information, we may disclose such information to a third party for the purposes, where applicable, of credit and identity checks, in providing our investment and lending services to you or as otherwise provided for in this Privacy Policy or by law.
4. Use of your Personal Information
We will only use your information as listed in 3 above for the purposes as set out in this Privacy Policy, and as authorised by you as being a requirement to do business with us and as permitted by law.
In particular, we may disclose personal information to:
- (a) GFL’s related companies;
- (b) agents and contractors that provide services to GFL or perform functions on GFL’s behalf, including credit reporting agencies, identification verification services, legal advisers, insurers, e-verifiers, website managers, and providers of internet, data storage and data access services;
- (c) anyone else whom the client authorises GFL to disclose personal information to; and
- (d) anyone else required or authorised by law.
If additional reasons arise for the use of your personal information and where we have obtained your consent as required in law, we will only use your personal information for such additional purposes.
We may use your personal information without your knowledge or consent where applicable legal or regulatory requirements permits or requires us to do so.
5. Storing, Securing and Retention of your Personal Information
GFL maintains policies, procedures and structures to ensure the confidentiality, safety and security of your personal information in order to prevent loss, unauthorised activity, interference or any misuse. This includes both physical access safeguards of our offices and IT measures to secure all corporate data containing personal information on our IT systems, servers and computer devices. In addition, we take precautionary measures regarding unauthorised access to your personal information by staff or third-party contractors.
Whilst we fully endeavour to do everything which is reasonably acceptable and necessary to protect and secure your personal information, GFL cannot warrant or absolutely guarantee the integrity and security of your personal information. We are not responsible for any possible inadvertent exposure of personal information in the event of any theft, illegal access or data breach beyond our control.
We will retain your personal information only for as long as is strictly necessary for the purposes for which we collected your personal information. This may be subject to any regulatory or legal requirement or other obligation. You have the right at any time to withdraw your consent regarding our retention of your personal information again subject to any legal, regulatory or contractual restrictions and upon reasonable written notice to ourselves.
6. Accessing, Updating and Correcting your Personal Information
You can request access to your personal information we hold at any time, and should you wish to verify or review your personal information, or if any of your personal details change kindly advise us as soon as possible as we wish your personal information to be accurate and up to date.
All enquiries in this regard can be directed to our Privacy Officer at the contact details below.
7. Cross-Border Disclosure of Personal Information
Personal information may only be disclosed by us to an overseas agency if that agency has a similar level of protection to New Zealand, or if you have been fully informed and authorised the disclosure in a particular instance.
GFL will undertake the necessary due diligence of overseas agencies before making a cross-border disclosure of personal information and may only participate in a cross-border disclosure if the offshore agency meets the following criteria:
- Is subject to the Privacy Act because the agency does business in New Zealand; or
- Is subject to privacy laws that provide comparable safeguards to the Privacy Act, or they agree to protect the information in such a way eg. by using model contract clauses; or
- Is covered by a binding scheme or is subject to the privacy laws of a country prescribed by the New Zealand Government.
If none of the above criteria apply, GFL may only make a cross-border disclosure with your permission or where we expressly inform you that your information may not be given the same protection as provided by the New Zealand Privacy Act.
GFL may need to make a cross-border disclosure in certain, urgent circumstances where it would not otherwise be allowed. Information privacy principle 12 (IPP 12) of the Act allows cross-border disclosure when it is necessary to maintain public health or safety, to prevent a serious threat to someone’s life or health, or for the maintenance of the law.
8. Unique Identifiers
We may assign a unique identifier in respect of your personal information to enable our systems to perform and function efficiently in providing our services to you. This may include the capture of information which directly identifies you such as your passport, driver’s license or IRD number.
9. Changes to our Privacy Policy
If any changes or amendments are made to this Privacy Policy then such changes will be published in an updated version of this Privacy Policy on our website.
10. Contact Information on How to Access Your Personal Information
If you have any queries regarding this Privacy Policy or you would like to get in touch with us regarding any access, review or correction of, or any issue relating to your personal information, you can contact our Privacy Officer:
Privacy Officer
General Finance Limited
Level 8, 115 Queen Street
Auckland, 1010
New Zealand
Telephone: 09 526 5000
Email: info@generalfinance.co.nz
