1. What does this statement cover?

This statement covers the services that are offered by Berkeley Trade Finance Ltd.

2. How does Berkeley Trade Finance protect your personal information?

We are strongly committed to keeping your personal information safe. To do this we design our services and data storage practices with your safety in mind. At the same time, no service can be completely secure – if you have any concerns that your Berkeley Trade Finance account or personal information has been put at risk, for example if someone could have found out your password, please contact us straight away.

Where we store your information

Some companies that provide services to us run their services from outside the European Economic Area. We only let that happen where the law allows us to do that and if we are satisfied with the levels of security provided by those overseas service providers. So please keep in mind that when you give us personal information it could be transferred, stored or processed in a location outside the EEA.

3. What types of personal information does Berkeley Trade Finance collect about you?

Berkeley Trade Finance is committed to holding the minimum amount of personal information it requires to conduct a professional business relationship with all of its stakeholders.

We will give you details about why we need your personal information and how we will use it before you begin, unless it’s obvious.

a. Information that you give us

We might ask for your name and contact details, your date of birth or financial details, depending on the reasons for us interacting.

b. Device information
Devices includes lots of things like:
your computer
your mobile phone
your tablet

We automatically collect some technical information from these devices and web browsers.

This might include:
IP (internet protocol) address
device ID
app ID
vendor ID

c. Information on when you talk about us

Like if you’ve mentioned us in a Twitter post, we’ll collect your Twitter handle

d. Information provided by credit reference agencies

4. How long will Berkeley Trade Finance keep your personal information?

We don’t keep your information any longer than we need to. Which is usually up to seven years after your relationship with us ends, unless we are required to keep it longer (for example, due to a court order or investigation by law enforcement agencies or regulators).

When you give us any personal information we will always stick to these principles:-

we only hold your information for as long as we still do the activities we told you about or have a valid reason to keep it
we think about what type of information it is, the amount collected, how sensitive it might be and any legal requirements

5. How can Berkeley Trade Finance use your personal information?

We have to have a valid reason to use your personal information. It’s called the “lawful basis for processing”. Sometimes, when you’d reasonably expect us to use your personal information, we don’t ask your permission, but only when:
the law says it’s fine to use it, and
it fits with the rights you have

We use your information for these types of things:

a. to deliver our services and to provide you with information about them

b. to deal with your requests, complaints and enquiries

c. to recommend things we think might interest you

d. to contact you about various things

6. When will Berkeley Trade Finance use your information to contact you?

We might use your information to contact you about different things, like:

to update you on any changes to the Berkeley Trade Finance’s policies and practices to check with you about any service or activity that you have signed up for. For example, we might tell you if your Berkeley Trade Finance account has not been used for a long period to answer you when you’ve contacted us, or to respond to a comment or complaint
to invite you to take part in surveys about the Berkeley Trade Finance services, which are always voluntary for marketing purposes

We’ll only contact you when we need to or when you’ve given us permission.

We’ll never contact you to ask for your Berkeley Trade Finance account password.

7. Will Berkeley Trade Finance contact you for marketing purposes?

Unless you have told us not to, we will send you marketing information relating to products and services that we think will be of interest and relevant to you.

If you change your mind and no longer wish to receive these communications you can tell us at any time by contacting us at 020 7299 7720. Keep in mind, even if you unsubscribe, we may still contact you if there is a legal reason for us to do that.

8. When does Berkeley Trade Finance share your personal information with others?

We will not share your information with third parties for their own marketing purposes without your permission. We’ll never sell your personal information. We do share it with others in these ways:

a. When you make something public

Like post a comment which the public can see.

b. When we use other companies to provide specialist services

In order for us to give you quality experiences and to understand how you’re using our services we sometimes use other companies to process your personal information on our behalf. For example, sending you emails to ask you what you think about our services.

We make sure that your personal information is looked after as if we were handling it directly. We carefully select these companies, only share with them what they need to do the work and we make sure they keep your information secure.

c. When we share personal information with other companies in the Berkeley Trade Finance group

d. Sometimes by law we have to pass on your information to other organisations including public authorities

We might also share your information if we have to by law, or when we need to protect you or other people from harm.

e. Credit reference and fraud protection agencies

When you apply to use any of our services we may request information about you from credit reference agencies and we will explain the details and what that means when you apply.

Please note that we do not currently use automated decision making when making credit assessment decisions.

We shall continue to share information with credit reference agencies about how you manage your account with us. We use and share information because we have an interest to prevent fraud and money laundering, to manage our risk and to protect our business and to comply with laws that apply to us (including verifying your identity).

Information shared with credit reference and fraud prevention agencies will be seen by other organisations that rely on this information. You can obtain copies of the information held by these agencies by contacting them directly.

9. Can you insist on your personal information being deleted?

This depends on what information you’re talking about. If there is no legal impediment to deleting the information then we will delete it. For example, if we have collected personal information that you might ask to be deleted that has been collected in the course of transacting business with Berkeley Trade Finance then we have a legal obligation to retain a record of that information for a number of years after our business relationship with you ends.

10. What are your rights?

Remember, you are in control of your personal information. You have the right to:

request a copy of your information
not let robots make big decisions about you
ask us to correct information that’s wrong, to delete it or to request that we only use it for certain purposes
change your mind, and ask us to stop using your information.
For example, unsubscribing from any marketing emails. Bear in mind, sometimes we might not be able to meet your request. For instance, if the law tells us we can’t.
If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal information please contact us directly on 020 7299 7720.

11. How does Berkeley Trade Finance use cookies and similar tracking tools?

a. What are cookies and other tracking tools?
Cookies are bits of data which are stored in your computer or mobile phone when you visit a website or app. There are other similar pieces of tracking information that we also collect.

b. Why do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?

To do a few different things:
to remember information about you, so you don’t have to give it to us again
to keep you signed in, even on different devices
to help us understand how people are using our services, so we can make those services better
to deliver advertising to websites inside and outside of the UK
to find out if our emails have been read and if you find them useful

A few things on our websites wouldn’t work without some cookies. Tech people call these “strictly necessary cookies”. They’re always on when you visit us. But we want to use others like functional, performance and advertising cookies to make your experience more enjoyable. We’ll only use them if you’ve agreed. You can always change your mind. Bear in mind there are some other cookies out there from other companies. These “third-party cookies” might track how you use different websites, including ours. For example, you might get a social media company’s cookie when you see the option to share something. You can turn them off, but not through us.

c. How long do cookies last?

Some are erased when you close the browser on your website or app. Others stay longer, sometimes forever, and are saved onto your device so that they are there when you come back.

d. How do you control your cookies and tracking?

When you first visit us, we’ll tell you about our cookies and ask you to agree if we can use them. You can always change your mind by going to your settings. Stopping all cookies might mean you can’t access some Berkeley Trade Finance services, or that some of them might not work properly for you. Another way to control some tracking is in the settings on your device.

12. How will you find out about changes to this policy?

It is likely that we will update this policy from time to time. If we make important changes, like how we use your personal information, we’ll let you know – either by notice on our website or by sending you an email. If you don’t agree to the changes, then you can always stop using our services, stop giving us any more personal information and advise us to stop sending you marketing information. If that happens then we’d be sorry to see you go.

13. How can you contact Berkeley Trade Finance?

For any other questions or comments about this policy please contact us directly:-
by email

[email protected]
by post
Data Protection
Berkeley Trade Finance Ltd
167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London W1W 5PF
by telephone
020 7299 7720

We hope that we will always be able to address any concerns you have but we are also regulated by the Information Commissioner’s Office so you can also contact them for advice and support, visit www.ico.org.uk