This policy describes the types of personal information we may collect about you, the purposes for which we use the information, the circumstances in which we may share the information and the steps that we take to safeguard the information to protect your privacy. As used throughout this policy, the term "Global Thematic Investors" refers to The Global Thematic Investors Group, and its affiliates worldwide.
The Sources of Information
The personal information we collect about you comes primarily from the account applications or other
forms and materials you submit to Global Thematic Investors during the course of your relationship with us.
We may also collect information about your transactions and experiences with Global Thematic Investors
relating to the products and services Global Thematic Investors provides. In addition, depending on the
products or services you require, Global Thematic Investors may obtain additional information about you,
such as your credit history, from consumer reporting agencies.
Finally, in the provision of financial services to you and subject to strict compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, information may be collected about you indirectly from monitoring or other means (e.g. recording of telephone calls and monitoring e-mails). In these circumstances, the information is not accessed on a continuous or routine basis, but it may be used for compliance or security purposes.
The Information We Have about You
If you deal with Global Thematic Investors in your individual capacity (e.g. as a private client),
or as a settlor/trustee/beneficiary of a trust, or as an owner or principal of a company or other investment
vehicle established to invest on your behalf or on behalf of your family, etc., the typical information we
collect about you would include:
- Your name, address and other contact details;
- Your age, occupation and marital status;
- Extensive financial information, including source of wealth, investment experience and objectives, risk tolerance and, in certain jurisdictions, representations required under applicable law or regulation concerning your financial resources;
- A head and shoulders photograph from, as applicable, your passport, national identity card or driver's license, as required by laws and regulations addressing due diligence and related matters; and
- A personal identifier such as, depending on your country of residence, your Social Security Number, National Insurance Number, Tax File Number, etc.
- Your name and contact details;
- Your role/position/title and area of responsibility; and
- Certain identifying information (e.g. passport photo, etc.) as required by laws and regulations addressing money laundering and related matters.
Our Use of Your Personal Information
We may use your personal information to:
- Administer, operate, facilitate and manage your relationship and/or account with Global Thematic Investors. This may include sharing such information internally as well as disclosing it to third parties, as described in the following two sections, respectively;
- Contact you or, if applicable, your designated representative(s) by post, telephone, electronic mail, facsimile, etc., in connection with your relationship and/or account;
- Provide you with information (such as investment research), recommendations, or advice concerning products and services offered by Global Thematic Investors; and
- Facilitate our internal business operations, including assessing and managing risk and fulfilling our legal and regulatory requirements. If your relationship with Global Thematic Investors ends, Global Thematic Investors will continue to treat your personal information, to the extent we retain it, as described in this policy.
Disclosures of Your Personal Information within Global Thematic Investors
In order to provide efficient and reliable services and to improve product and service options available to you,
more than one entity within Global Thematic Investors may be given, or given access to, your personal information.
For example, one Global Thematic Investors entity might share your information with another in order to facilitate
settlement of your transactions or the maintenance of your accounts, or as part of its arranging for the performance
of specialized services such as US and international brokerage, asset management and advisory and trust services.
When so sharing your personal information, we adhere to applicable legal and industry standards regarding the
protection of personal information. Additional information on how your personal information is protected while
within Global Thematic Investors is provided below, under Information Security: How We Protect Your Privacy.
Disclosures of Your Personal Information to Third Parties
Global Thematic Investors does not disclose your personal information to third parties, except as described in this policy.
Third party disclosures may include sharing such information with non-affiliated companies that perform support services
for your account or facilitate your transactions with Global Thematic Investors, including those that provide professional,
legal or accounting advice to Global Thematic Investors. Non-affiliated companies that assist Global Thematic Investors
in providing services to you are required to maintain the confidentiality of such information to the extent they receive
it and to use your personal information only in the course of providing such services and only for the purposes that Global
Thematic Investors dictates.
We may also disclose your personal information to fulfill your instructions, to protect our rights and interests and those of our business partners or pursuant to your express consent. Finally, under limited circumstances, your personal information may be disclosed to third parties as permitted by, or to comply with, applicable laws and regulations; for instance, when responding to a subpoena or similar legal process, to protect against fraud and to otherwise cooperate with law enforcement or regulatory authorities or with organizations such as exchanges and clearinghouses.
You should know that Global Thematic Investors will not sell your personal information.
Information Security: How We Protect Your Privacy
Global Thematic Investors is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information.
We limit access to your personal information to authorized Global Thematic Investors employees or agents and, as
described above in Disclosures of Your Personal Information to Third Parties, our service providers are held to stringent
standards of privacy. We also maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect the information against
loss, misuse, damage or modification and unauthorized access or disclosure. Some of the other central features of our
information security program are:
- A dedicated group – the Information Security Department – that designs, implements and provides oversight to our information security program;
- The use of specialized technology such as firewalls;
- Testing of the security and operability of products and services before they are introduced to the Internet, as well as ongoing scanning for publicly known vulnerabilities in the technology;
- Internal and external reviews of our Internet sites and services;
- Monitoring of our systems infrastructure to detect weaknesses and potential intrusions;
- Implementing controls to identify, authenticate and authorize access to various systems or sites;
- Protecting information during transmission through various means including, where appropriate, encryption; and
- Providing Global Thematic Investors personnel with relevant training and continually updating our security practices in light of new risks and developments in technology.
Privacy and the Internet
The following additional information will be of interest to you if you access Global Thematic Investors products or services
through one or more Global Thematic Investors Web sites:
- Users of private Global Thematic Investors Web sites are required to identify and authenticate themselves prior to accessing our services. Generally, identification and authentication take place through the use of your user name and a password, or with an RSA SecurID* Card and a Personal Identification Number (PIN).
- The private Global Thematic Investors Web sites are built upon a secure infrastructure with multiple layers of protection, including measures ranging from proper physical security of our machines to system intrusion detection capabilities. Within such private sites, Global Thematic Investors uses industry standard encryption technologies to protect your information from external compromise.
- Security is a cooperative effort between Global Thematic Investors and the users of the Global Thematic Investors Web sites. Please remember that your password, RSA SecurID Card and PIN are personal to you and should not be made available to any other person. Also, you should discontinue their use and notify us if you have any reason to suspect that someone else may be using them.
- "Cookies" are small text files that may be placed on your Web browser when you visit our Web sites. Cookies make it easier for you to navigate a Global Thematic Investors Web site by, among other things, "remembering" your identity so that you do not have to input your password multiple times as you move between pages or services, and authenticating you (i.e., verifying that you are who you say you are), an essential component of site security. You can set your Web browser to inform you when cookies are set, or to prevent cookies from being set. However, if you decline to use cookies, you may experience reduced functionality, and declining to use our authentication-related cookies will prevent you from using our Web site altogether.
- "Clickstream" data (e.g., information regarding which of our Web pages you access, the frequency of such access, and your product and service preferences) may be collected by Global Thematic Investors itself, or by our service providers, using cookies, Web beacons, page tags or similar tools that are set when you visit our Web site. Clickstream data and similar information may be shared internally within Global Thematic Investors and used: for administrative purposes; to assess the usage, value and performance of our online products and services; to improve your experience with our Web sites; and as otherwise permitted by applicable law or regulation. If you are a Global Thematic Investors client, this information helps us suggest products or service offerings that may be of interest to you. This information may be processed by us for the purposes described above, or on our behalf by third parties, solely in accordance with our instructions.
Other Privacy Policies or Statements; Changes to Policy
This policy provides a general statement of the ways in which Global Thematic Investors protects your personal information.
You may, however, in connection with specific products or services offered by Global Thematic Investors, be provided with
privacy policies or statements that supplement this policy. This policy may be changed from time to time to reflect changes
in our practices concerning the collection and use of personal information. The revised policy will be effective immediately
upon posting to our Web site. This version of the Policy is effective October 9, 2009.
Additional Information: The European Economic Area – Switzerland, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand
(This section applies only if your information is processed by Global Thematic Investors in a Member State of the European
Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia or New Zealand).
You are entitled to access any personal data about you held by Global Thematic Investors by sending a written request to the applicable individual identified below. You may be required to supply a valid means of identification as a security precaution to assist us in preventing the unauthorized disclosure of your personal information. We will process your request within the time provided by applicable law. You are also entitled to have Global Thematic Investors modify or delete any information that you believe is incorrect or out of date.
Global Thematic Investors may occasionally contact you by post, telephone, electronic mail, facsimile, etc., with details of products and services that we believe may be of interest to you. If you do not wish to be contacted in this way, if you wish to exercise your rights of correction and access, or if you require further information regarding our privacy policies and practices in the above-referenced regions, please contact:
P&C Global Wealth Managers S.A.
Zumikerstrasse 18
CH-8702 Zollikon
(Zurich)
Switzerland
tel: +41-44-390-1561
fax: +41-44-390-1562