Last Updated: Oct 2024

Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd
Collection Statement

Clients, prospective clients and their representatives:

As part of providing services to clients and introducing those services to prospective clients, Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd (ACN 159 670 667) collects personal information. This collection is authorised by and, in some cases, required by Australian and New Zealand law. We primarily obtain personal information directly from individuals. An individual’s personal information will be used and disclosed in accordance with this statement and our Privacy & Cookie Policy, available at https://fisherinvestments.com/en-au/privacy. Refusal to provide us with personal information may prevent us from providing services to you. We disclose personal information to other parties in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Some of these third parties are service providers located outside of Australia and New Zealand, including our parent company in the United States. Our Privacy & Cookie Policy contains information about how individuals may access and seek correction of their personal information, how individuals may complain about a breach of privacy, and how we will deal with that complaint.

Prospective employees:

As part of recruiting and hiring employees, Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd (ACN 159 670 667) collects personal information. This collection is authorised by and, in some cases, required by Australian and New Zealand law. We obtain personal information directly from individuals and from third parties, such as professional recruiters. An individual’s personal information will be used and disclosed in accordance with this statement and our Privacy & Cookie Policy, available at https://fisherinvestments.com/en-au/privacy. Sensitive information, such as criminal information, will only be collected with consent. In some cases, refusal to authorise the collection of sensitive information, such as through a background check, may impede the recruitment and hiring process, including potentially preventing employment. We disclose personal information to other parties in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Some of these third parties are service providers located outside of Australia and New Zealand, including our parent company in the United States. Our Privacy & Cookie Policy contains information about how individuals may access and seek correction of their personal information, how individuals may complain about a breach of privacy, and how we will deal with that complaint.

Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd
Privacy & Cookie Policy

  1. General

    This Privacy & Cookie Policy (this “Policy”) and sets out how Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd (ACN 159 670 667, the “Company”), uses Personal Information and complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the applicable Australian Privacy Principles (the “Privacy Act”) as well as the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 (the “NZ Privacy Act”) and the applicable New Zealand Information Privacy Principles. This Policy will not apply to information covered by an exemption to the Privacy Act or the NZ Privacy Act.

    In this Policy, “Personal Information” means any information or opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether true or not and whether recorded in material form or not. The Company uses Personal Information relating to the following natural people (“Individuals”):

    • prospective clients, clients, and their representatives;
    • website users;
    • business contacts working with service providers and vendors, including independent contractors;
    • individuals who agree to participate in market research;
    • employees; and
    • prospective employees.

    The Company can be contacted about this Policy using the following details:

    Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd
    Attn: Privacy Office
    Level 12 & 13, 20 Martin Place
    Sydney NSW 2000
    privacy@fisher-investments.com.au

  2. Types of Personal Information

    The Company collects the following types of Personal Information for the following categories of Individuals:

    1. Prospective clients, clients, and their representatives:
      • The Company collects the name, address, telephone numbers, email address, and asset level category of Individuals who provide such information at the time that they request the Company’s informational materials, and at the time that they express an interest in services offered by the Company.
      • The Company may also collect the name, address and email address of Individuals provided by third party list vendors to provide offers for the Company’s informational materials. Such Personal Information may come from public sources and/or such vendors’ private databases.
      • When Individuals request that the Company provide personal advice and/or engage the Company as discretionary investment manager, the Company uses the Personal Information Individuals provide directly, including:
        • Information provided in the client profile document, including the tax file number of an Individual that chooses to provide it (Under the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth), the Company uses the tax file number to pre-populate forms used to open accounts with securities platforms and custodians. It is not an offence to decline to provide a tax file number. If a tax file number is not provided to the Company, an Individual can add it manually to platform or custodian account opening forms. If an Individual declines to provide a tax file number on platform or custodian paperwork, the account may be subject to tax withholding at a higher rate.);
        • Information provided in the client agreement, account statements, account opening documents for the platform or custodian, and any instruction or mandate form with respect to the Company’s discretionary investment management service; and
        • Information provided to employee representatives of the Company in writing, in-person and by telephone, including information the Company may request from time to time to assist in providing services to the Individual.
      • To provide personal advice to Individuals, the Company uses information provided by Individuals about their mental and physical health (“Client Health Information”), including in the context of conducting a proprietary assessment of an Individual’s life expectancy and any impact on the investment time horizon for the Individual’s assets.
      • The Company is required under applicable anti-money laundering laws and regulations (collectively “AML Laws”) to carry out identity verification, sanctions checks, and anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing screens. Accordingly, the Company uses the name, date of birth and address provided by Individuals seeking to become clients of the Company to perform a sanctions and anti-money laundering check using the services of a third party service provider, which may reveal information relating to criminal convictions or offences.
      • Where an organisation or some other legal entity seeks to become or becomes a client, the Company uses business contact information and other identifying information about the Individuals representing the organisation or legal entity in its dealing with the Company.
    2. Website users:
      • The Company places ads on publishers’ websites or within email content, either directly through the publisher or via a third party. As a result of Individuals interacting with the advertising content, ad server companies will collect Individuals’ domain types, IP address, and clickstream data.
      • The Company’s websites use cookies and other online tracking technologies such as pixels, tags, and web beacons that collect information about Individuals’ internet browsing habits and history, inferences drawn from any personal information, etc., (collectively referred to in this Policy as “cookies”). For more information, please see Section 8 below.
    3. Business contacts at service providers and vendors:
      • In dealing with service providers and vendors, including independent contractors, the Company obtains information about the Individual representing the service provider or vendor, including name, title, name, address, telephone and fax numbers and email address.
    4. Individuals who agree to participate in market research:
      • When Individuals agree to participate in market research, the Company uses information about Individuals’ marketing, investment and servicing preferences. Such information is provided directly by Individuals to the Company or to a third party service provider engaged by the Company to conduct such market research.
    5. Prospective employees:
      • The Company processes the following types of Personal Information for prospective employees:
        • records of work history (including internal and external work history and references), education and qualifications (including information provided on an application or CV);
        • contact details (e.g. name, address, email address, telephone number);
        • date of birth;
        • identification numbers;
        • background check information, which may reveal information concerning criminal convictions or offences;
        • other information that the Individual provides to the Company or its affiliates (collectively, the “Fisher Group”).
      • Personal Information is collected mainly from prospective employees themselves. In addition, the Company collects reference check information from previous employers of (or companies to which services were provided by) prospective employees. Background check information, which may reveal information concerning criminal convictions or offences, is collected from a background checking firm that collects Personal Information from both public and private sources with consent of the Individual.
    6. Employees:
      • The Company collects personal information about employees for purposes relating to their employment with the Company, including meeting its obligations to employees as its employer, facilitating its relationship with employees, managing its business, and meeting its other legal obligations (including obligations to employees, regulator bodies, and clients). The type of personal information that the Company may collect and hold about its employees includes (but is not limited to) the personal information listed at paragraph 2(e) above, personal preference payment details, performance information, relevant medical information and information relating to employees’ day-to-day work.

  3. Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

    The Company uses and discloses Individuals’ Personal Information for the purposes for which it was collected, as reasonably necessary to provide services requested, and for internal business reasons. Examples of these purposes include the following:

    • To provide personal advice and discretionary investment management services, which includes using Client Health Information collected with the Individuals’ consent;
    • To offer and coordinate third party products or services that supplement the Company’s services;
    • To carry out direct marketing, including direct marketing with Individuals’ consent by opting in or not opting out;
    • To optimise our marketing, including analysing and improving marketing campaigns and enabling service providers to display the Company’s advertisements on third party websites and social media platforms;
    • To conduct market research, optimise marketing, and improve the Company’s services;
    • To contact Individuals referred to the Company;
    • To calculate portfolio performance;
    • To meet the Company’s obligations under applicable law, which includes verifying a client’s identity under AML Laws;
    • To supervise employees, including monitoring the advice process and recording and monitoring certain telephone calls;
    • To suppress Individuals from being contacted;
    • To engage with service providers and vendors;
    • To recruit and hire prospective employees;
    • To keep records; and
    • To share information with regulators and law enforcement officials; and
    • To share information with courts and tribunals.

    The Company may combine Personal Information collected.

  4. Sharing of Personal Information

    The Company will not sell or lease Individuals’ Personal Information to third parties.

    For the purposes listed in Section 3 above, the Company may share Individuals’ Personal Information with:

    • Fisher Group companies, including Fisher Investments, the Company’s parent company in the United States, which acts as a service provider for investment management, research, accounting, administration and operational assistance, computer and information technology, and legal functions.
    • Company-authorised vendors, service providers, contractors and representatives. These organisations are as follows:
      • Platforms and custodians that hold custody of clients’ assets managed by the Company, as well as platforms, custodians, brokers and dealers that execute trade order instructions for clients of the Company. The platforms or custodians holding clients’ assets will also have a direct contractual relationship with each client. The Company may provide an Individual’s tax file number to these organisations when helping to open an account.
      • Service providers that carry out the sanctions and anti-money laundering checks on behalf of the Company.
      • Information technology and security providers, such as communications, internet firewall and malware detection providers.
      • Direct marketing contractors and service providers, including website host companies that collect Personal Information on behalf of the Company from Individuals interested in the Company’s informational materials, merge-purge service providers that ensure mailing lists are accurate, and mailing service providers that send mail to Individuals on behalf of the Company.
      • Providers of third party professional advice, such as lawyers and auditors.
    • Courts and tribunals.
    • Regulators (including the relevant financial regulators), tax authorities, other government agencies, and law enforcement organisations.
    • If the Company sells, transfers or merges part or all of its business, or attempts to do so, then third parties may receive Personal Information.

    If the Company is required to send Personal Information outside of Australia and/or New Zealand. the Company will ensure that the Personal Information is protected by comparable safeguards as those provided in this Policy, the Privacy Act and the NZ Privacy Act.

  5. Consent

    By providing Personal Information to the Company, an Individual consents to the Company collecting, holding, using, and disclosing the Personal Information in accordance with and for the purposes specified in this Policy. Where the Company requests Personal Information and the Individual does not provide such information, the Company may not be able to provide services and may need to cancel the contract. For example, if an Individual does not consent to providing Client Health Information, the Company may not be able to provide services and may need to cancel the contract. In the case of a prospective employee, failure to provide Personal Information to the Company, in whole or in part, could make it impossible for the Company to fulfil some or all of its obligations towards the Individual, such as payment of compensation or fees, calculation of withholdings, or consideration of an employment application.

    Individuals may unsubscribe from direct email marketing via the Company’s online form at https://www.fisherinvestments.com/en-au/unsubscribe or using the details set out in Section 1 above. When doing so, Individuals should ensure that a full name and address and/or email address is provided in exactly the form in which it was originally provided to the Company to avoid any possible confusion with a different Individual.

  6. Individuals’ Rights

    In accordance with the Privacy Act and the NZ Privacy Act, Individuals may exercise the following rights in relation to the Personal Information that the Company holds about them:

    • Individuals have the right to access their Personal Information.
    • Individuals have the right to ask the Company to correct Personal Information about them that they think is inaccurate.

    To exercise these rights or to complain about how the Company handles personal information, Individuals should contact the Company using the details set out in Section 1 above. In such case, Individuals should ensure that the full name and address and/or email address are provided in exactly the form in which they were originally provided to the Company to avoid any possible confusion with a different Individual. The Company will provide a response within a reasonable period of time.

    If Individuals are not satisfied with the way the Company handles the request, they may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (1300 363 992 or www.oaic.gov.au) or the Office of the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner (0800 803 909 or https://www.privacy.org.nz/about-us/contact-us/).

  7. Security

    The Company is committed to ensuring that Personal Information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, the Company has put in place appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure Personal Information collected. The Company also uses encryption when collecting or transferring sensitive information.

  8. Cookies

    A cookie is a small text file with an identification tag that is created and downloaded to a user’s computer (or other device) when accessing websites that use cookies. Cookies allow a website to, among other things, store and retrieve information about a user’s online activity and browsing habits. Depending on the information they contain and user behaviour, cookies may be used to identify the user.

    Cookies can be categorised by who places them:

    • First-party cookies: These cookies are downloaded to a user’s computer (or other device) by the publisher of the website whose service the user is requesting.
    • Third-party cookies: These cookies are downloaded to a user’s computer (or other device) by another entity that may be seeking information obtained through cookies.

    Cookies can also be categorised by their duration:

    • Session cookies: These cookies are designed to collect and store information while the user accesses a website. They are often used to store information for the duration of a visit to the website (e.g. what account user is logged into). Once a user leaves the website, the session cookie is deleted.
    • Persistent cookies: These cookies store information on the user’s computer (or other device) for the duration period set within the cookie’s file, which is determined by the entity controlling the cookie and can range from a few minutes to several years, or until the user manually deletes them.

    Lastly, cookies can be categorised by the function they serve. The Company uses the following types of first- and third-party cookies:

    • Required: Required cookies are necessary to enable the basic features of this site to function. They keep track of whether or not a user has consented to have other types of cookies placed on their computer (or other device). Required cookies do not collect Personal Information. Required cookies may also include authentication cookies.
    • Statistical: Statistical cookies analyse anonymised site statistics. They enable measuring the number of visitors and analysing how users interact with the website. This information is used to improve the website and the products or services offered.
    • Marketing: Marketing cookies are used to understand user interests, provide relevant ads, and make a user’s online experience more enjoyable. They can be used to build a user profile to provide users with content more relevant to their interests. They adapt advertising and the content users see on other websites based on their website browsing habits, as well as how users interact with internet advertising.
    • Preferences: Preferences cookies allow the website to personalise website content, such as the language selected for viewing the page. These also save a user’s cookie preference settings.

    The Company uses first- and third-party required, statistical, marketing and preferences cookies. The following vendors load cookies on this website:

    • Facebook
    • Google Ads
    • Google Analytics
    • Hotjar
    • Pingdom
    • Tealium
    • YouTube

    Some browsers have a “Do Not Track” setting that allows users to send a signal to the websites they visit that the user does not wish to be tracked. The Company’s website does not respond to these signals.

    The websites used by the Company for job postings and submitting applications have their own privacy and cookie policies, which are listed below:

  9. How Long Information Will Be Kept

    If Personal Information the Company holds is no longer needed for any purpose for which it may be used or disclosed, the Company will take steps that are reasonable in the circumstances to destroy or permanently de-identify such Personal Information.

  10. Social Media

    The Company maintains a presence on various social media platforms. The terms and conditions set by the operators of the various platforms apply to the Company and any Individuals who interact with the Company through the platforms. More information about each of the various platforms is available below including information about interest-based advertising.

  11. Changes to Privacy & Cookie Policy

    From time to time, the Company may update this Policy where it identifies a new, unanticipated use of Personal Information not previously disclosed in this Policy. If its practices regarding Personal Information change at some time in the future, the Company will post the policy changes to https://fisherinvestments.com/en-au/privacy.