Guardian Capital Australia Ltd, Guardian Funds Management Pty Ltd and the related entities and investment funds described in this Privacy Statement respect individual privacy and handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). This Privacy Statement explains how Guardian Capital Australia Ltd and those related entities collect, use, disclose, secure and retain personal information and how individuals can request access or correction or make a privacy complaint.
This Privacy Statement applies to Guardian Capital Australia Ltd (ACN 604 814 593, AFSL 476816), Guardian Funds Management Pty Ltd (ABN 59 632 915 854, Corporate Authorised Representative No. 001306485), and any related body corporate, managed investment fund, unit trust or other investment vehicle for which Guardian Capital Australia Ltd acts as trustee, responsible entity or issuer, or for which Guardian Funds Management Pty Ltd acts as investment manager or provides services (together, the “Guardian Capital Entities” or “Guardian”). The Privacy Statement is supported by the Board-approved Guardian Capital Australia Ltd Privacy Policy and Procedure, which contains the internal governance and control requirements applying to the Guardian Capital Entities.
Depending on an individual’s relationship with a Guardian entity, Guardian may collect the individual’s name, date of birth, residential and postal address, contact details, occupation, tax residency and tax information, bank account details, investment and transaction information, source-of-funds or source-of-wealth information, adviser or representative details, wholesale investor status and other information required to establish or administer the individual’s relationship with a Guardian Capital Entity.
For identity verification and KYC/KYB purposes, the Guardian Capital Entities may collect information from passports, driver licences, Medicare cards and other identification or supporting documents, including government-related identifiers where permitted by law.
Guardian generally collect personal information directly from the individual through application or subscription forms, correspondence, telephone calls, email, meetings, electronic verification processes and documents provided by the individual. The Guardian Capital Entities may also receive information from an adviser or authorised representative, fund administrator, registry, custodian, identity-verification provider, government agency or other service provider where permitted by law.
Guardian handles personal information to establish and administer investor and business relationships; process applications, transactions and payments; provide financial products and services; communicate with investors and clients; manage business operations and records; prevent fraud; manage risk; and comply with legal and regulatory obligations, including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, taxation, FATCA/CRS and identity-verification requirements.
If required information is not provided, the relevant Guardian Capital Entity may be unable to verify an individual’s identity, accept an application, provide a product or service, process a transaction or continue the relevant relationship.
Where identity verification is required, Guardian may use an electronic identity-verification service to check information from an identification document against records held by the document issuer or an authorised verification service. Guardian will provide relevant information about the verification process and obtain the individual’s informed express consent before submitting an electronic identity-document match where consent is required.
An individual may decline electronic verification. If an individual declines, Guardian will not submit the electronic verification request and, where lawful and operationally available, will provide an alternative method of verifying identity. Declining electronic verification may mean that verification takes longer or requires additional documentation.
The Guardian Capital Entities use identity information only for authorised verification, compliance and related purposes and do not use government-related identifiers for unrelated purposes.
Guardian Capital Australia Ltd and Guardian Funds Management Pty Ltd use documents@guardianfunds.com.au as a controlled shared mailbox for receiving client and investor KYC/KYB identification and supporting verification documents for the Guardian Capital Entities. The mailbox is a temporary document-receipt channel only and is not the permanent record repository.
Access to documents@guardianfunds.com.au is restricted to authorised Operations personnel through individual Microsoft 365 accounts. Automatic external forwarding is disabled, and mailbox activity is subject to Microsoft 365 audit logging. Emails and attachments are configured to be automatically deleted after seven days. Relevant records that a Guardian Capital Entity is required or permitted to retain are transferred to the appropriate client or investor record before deletion. Microsoft 365 retention, recovery or backup settings may affect how long a deleted item remains technically recoverable; Guardian Capital Australia Ltd manages those settings as part of the information-security and retention controls applying to the Guardian Capital Entities.
Guardian may disclose personal information where reasonably necessary to another Guardian Capital Entity, fund administrators, registries, custodians, banks, auditors, accountants, lawyers, compliance advisers, technology and cloud providers, identity-verification providers and government or regulatory bodies. Service providers are expected to use personal information only for authorised purposes and maintain appropriate confidentiality, privacy and security controls.
Some service providers or their systems may be located outside Australia. Before Guardian discloses personal information to an overseas recipient, Guardian takes the steps required by the Privacy Act unless an exception applies.
Guardian takes reasonable technical, physical and organisational steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These measures include access controls, secure systems, audit logging, staff training, confidentiality obligations and controlled document handling.
Guardian retains personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and to meet applicable legal, regulatory, audit and record-keeping obligations. Verification-only copies and identity document numbers are not retained merely because they were used for electronic verification, unless there is a separate lawful reason to retain them.
An individual may request access to personal information held by a Guardian Capital Entity or ask Guardian to correct information that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. Guardian may need to verify the individual’s identity before responding and may refuse a request where the Privacy Act permits.
Privacy enquiries, access or correction requests and complaints relating to any Guardian Capital Entity may be directed to the Privacy Officer at info@guardianfunds.com.au , by telephone on 1800 982 363, or by mail to Guardian Capital Australia Ltd / Guardian Funds, Unit 406, 11 Solent Circuit, Norwest NSW 2153.
Guardian Capital Australia Ltd will coordinate the acknowledgement and investigation of privacy complaints concerning Guardian Capital Australia Ltd, Guardian Funds Management Pty Ltd, and any related body corporate, managed investment fund, unit trust or other investment vehicle for which Guardian Capital Australia Ltd acts as trustee, responsible entity or issuer, or for which Guardian Funds Management Pty Ltd is the investment manager and will arrange a response within a reasonable period. If an individual is not satisfied with the response, the individual may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
When an individual visits a website operated by a Guardian Capital Entity, Guardian may collect information automatically about use of the website, including IP address, browser and device type, pages visited, date and time of access and the referring website.
Guardian may use cookies and similar technologies to operate and secure their websites, understand how the websites are used and improve website functionality and user experience. Cookies may include strictly necessary cookies required for a website to operate, analytics and performance cookies that assist in understanding website use and performance, and functional cookies that support additional website functionality and user preferences.
Where a Guardian uses optional advertising or targeting cookies, the use of those cookies will be disclosed and appropriate choices will be provided where required. Individuals may be able to control or disable cookies through browser settings or any cookie preference facility made available on the relevant website. Disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality.
Information collected through cookies and similar technologies will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Statement.
Guardian may use an individual’s personal information to communicate with the individual about investment products, funds, services, events, market information or other matters that may reasonably be expected to be of interest to the individual, where permitted by law. Guardian may also send marketing communications where the individual has consented to receiving them.
Guardian does not sell personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.
An individual may opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe facility contained in an electronic communication or by contacting Guardian Capital Australia Ltd using the contact details in this Privacy Statement.
An opt-out request will not prevent a Guardian Capital Entity from sending communications that are necessary to administer an investment, provide a requested service, satisfy legal or regulatory obligations, undertake AML/CTF or KYC/KYB activities, or otherwise communicate with an individual where the communication is not a marketing communication.
Guardian Capital Australia Ltd may update this Privacy Statement from time to time on behalf of the Guardian Capital Entities to reflect changes in law, regulatory requirements, operations or the way personal information is handled.
