Home Privacy policy

Privacy policy

The defined terms in this Policy have the same meaning as detailed in our “Letter of Engagement’, which you should read together with this Policy. By using our services, you consent to the terms of this Policy and agree to be bound by it and our terms of engagement.

BMO Business Centre collects any data in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the subsequent 2012 and 2016 amendments (Mandatory Data Breach Notification), The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. The personal information we collect assists us in the preparation, collation of your financial affairs including, Financial Statements, Income tax Returns, Cash Flows and Business Advisory Services.

These tasks involve the storage of data about your individual and business needs. That data can include personal information. “Personal Information” is information about an identifiable individual, and may include information such as;

  • Names,
  • Contact details,
  • Gender,
  • Dates of Birth,
  • Employment details and employment history,
  • Tax File Numbers,
  • Details of your financial circumstances, including bank account details, your assets and liabilities (both actual and potential), income, expenditure, insurance cover and superannuation,
  • Health information (for some types of insurance cover),
  • Details of your investment preferences and aversion or tolerance to risk (if a financial planning client),
  • We will not collect any personal information about you except when you have knowingly provided that information to us or authorised a third party to provide that information to us.

BMO Business Centre may collect personal information directly from you when you:

  • Agree to engage us to use our services,
  • Use the services,
  • Complete documentation requirements – fill in forms and provide us with information about yourself,
  • Contact the BMO Business Centre, support team, and
  • Visit our Website.

You can always choose not to provide your personal information to the BMO Business Centre team, but it may mean that we are unable to provide you with our services.

BMO Business Centre may receive personal information from you about other family members or related parties.

Through your use of our services BMO Business Centre may also collect information from you about someone else. If you provide BMO Business Centre with personal information about someone else, you must ensure that you are authorised to disclose that information to the BMO Business Centre and that, without BMO Business Centre taking any further steps required by applicable data protection or privacy laws, BMO Business Centre may collect, use and disclose such information for the purposes described in this Policy.

This means that you must take reasonable steps to ensure the individual concerned is aware of and/or consents to the various matters detailed in this Policy, including the fact that their personal information is being collected, the purposes for which that information is being collected, the intended recipients of that information, the individual’s right to obtain access to that information, BMO Business Centre location and identity and how to contact the BMO Business Centre.

Where requested to do so by BMO Business Centre, you must also assist BMO Business Centre with any requests by the individual to access or update the personal information you have collected from them and entered into the Service.

BMO Business Centre collects, holds, and uses your personal information for limited purposes. BMO Business Centre collects your personal information so that we can provide you with our assistance to undertake the tasks mentioned previously and any related services you may request. In doing so, BMO Business Centre may use the personal information we have collected from you for purposes related to the services including to:

  • verify your identity,
  • administer and provide our services to you,
  • notify you of new or changed services offered in relation to our advisory services,
  • carry out marketing or training relating to our services,
  • assist with business advisory and support issues or other issues relating to the service,
  • comply with laws and regulations in applicable jurisdictions, and
  • communicate with you.

By using our services, you consent to your personal information being collected, held and used in this way and for any other use you authorise. BMO Business Centre will only use your personal information for the purposes described in this policy or with your express permission.

BMO Business Centre holds your personal information on computer servers located in Dalby, Queensland.

All data, including personal and non-personal information, that is entered into the BMO Computer System by us, or automatically imported / uploaded on your instruction, is transferred to the BMO Business Centre’s computer servers as a function of transmission across the BMO Intranet or Internet. By using our services, you consent to your personal information being transferred to our computer system as set out in this policy.

Currently our computer system and servers are located in Drayton Street, Dalby, Qld and your personal information will be stored on, those servers as part of our procedures. The BMO Business Centre complies with relevant legislative requirements and has certified that it adheres to relevant Australian National Privacy Principles. If the location of our servers changes in the future, we will update this Policy. You should review our policy regularly to keep informed of any updates.

By providing your personal information to BMO Business Centre, you consent to BMO Business Centre storing your personal information on our servers and it will remain within BMO Business Centre’s effective control at all times.

BMO Business Centre takes steps to protect your personal information.

BMO Business Centre is committed to protecting the security of your personal information and we take all reasonable precautions to protect it from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Your personal information is stored at our offices on our secure servers that have restricted and limited access both physically and virtually.

The Internet is not in itself a secure environment and we cannot give an absolute assurance that your information will be secure at all times. Transmission of personal information over the Internet is at your own risk and you should only enter, or instruct the entering of, personal information to our office within a secure environment.

In the unlikely event that your personal information is lost, stolen, accessed, used, disclosed, copied, modified, or disposed of by any unauthorised persons or in any unauthorised manner you will be advised of such a breach in accordance with our Notifiable Data Breach Procedure.

BMO Business Centre only discloses your personal Information in limited circumstances.

BMO Business Centre will only disclose the personal information you have provided to us to entities outside the BMO Business Centre group of companies if it is necessary and appropriate to facilitate the purpose for which your personal information was collected pursuant to this policy, including the provision of our services. (eg: Australian Taxation Office).

BMO Business Centre will not otherwise disclose your personal information to a third party unless you have provided your express consent. However, you should be aware that BMO Business Centre may be required to disclose your personal information without your consent in order to comply with any court orders, subpoenas, or other legal process or investigation including by tax authorities, if such disclosure is required by law. Where possible and appropriate, we will notify you if we are required by law to disclose your personal information.

Only authorised staff members who work on your file, are permitted to access or use your personal information. This means that, for the purposes of Australian Privacy Legislation and users of our services, the BMO Business Centre does not currently “disclose” personal information to third parties.

BMO Business Centre does not store your credit card details.

If you choose to pay for our services by credit card, your credit card details are not stored by our system and can only be accessed by BMO Business Centre staff. Your credit card details are securely stored and only used to automatically bill your credit card on a recurring basis when authorised to do so by you. Where applicable, you should review Direct Debit arrangements to ensure you are happy with the arrangement.

You may request access to your personal information.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the personal information you provide to us is accurate, complete and up-to-date. You may request access to the information we hold about you, or request that we update or correct any personal information we hold about you, by setting out your request in writing and sending it to us at: team@bmo.com.au

BMO Business Centre will process your request as soon as reasonably practicable, provided we are not otherwise prevented from doing so on legal grounds. If we are unable to meet your request, we will let you know why. For example, it may be necessary for us to deny your request if it would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy or affairs of other individuals, or if it is not reasonable and practicable for us to process your request in the manner you have requested. In some circumstances, it may be necessary for us to seek to arrange access to your personal information through a mutually agreed intermediary (for example, your Solicitor).

We’ll only keep your personal information for as long as we require it for the purposes of providing you with our services. However, we may also be required to keep some of your personal information for specified periods of time, for example under certain laws relating to corporations, money laundering, and financial reporting legislation.

You can opt-out of any email communications.

BMO Business Centre sends billing information, business advisory information and various coding and financial reports to you via email. Our emails will contain clear and obvious instructions describing how you can choose to be removed from any mailing list not essential to our services. BMO Business Centre will remove you at your request.

BMO Business Centre has a privacy complaints process.

If you wish to complain about how we have handled your personal information, please provide our Practice Manager with full details of your complaint and any supporting documentation:

  • by e-mail at: team@bmo.com.au , or
  • by letter to Practice Manager, BMO Business Centre Limited, PO Box 180, Dalby, QLD 4405

Our Practice Manager will endeavour to:

  • provide an initial response to your query or complaint within 10 business days, and
  • investigate and attempt to resolve your query or complaint within 30 business days or such longer period as is necessary and notified to you by our Practice Manager.

This policy may be updated from time to time.

BMO Business Centre reserves the right to change this policy at any time, and any amended policy is effective upon posting to our Website. BMO Business Centre will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via our services. Your continued use of our services will be deemed acceptance of any amended policy.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email