This page sets out privacy notices for specific activities conducted by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority Ltd:
For general information about how AFCA handles personal information, please refer to our privacy policy.
If you have any questions about AFCA’s privacy notices, please contact privacy@afca.org.au.
Privacy notice for complaint handling
AFCA collects personal information when investigating and determining a complaint. The type of personal information that AFCA may collect includes identity and contact information, financial information and sensitive information. AFCA requires this information to properly investigate a complaint about a financial firm.
Details about how we handle your personal information are set out in our Privacy Policy available here.
Our Privacy Policy includes information on how you can access or correct your personal information that AFCA holds. It also sets out how you can make a complaint about how AFCA has handled your personal information.
You may withdraw your consent for us to handle your personal information by contacting us, however we will be unable to resolve your complaint and we will continue to keep information that has been collected. If known at that time, we will also inform you of any other potential impact that withdrawing your consent may have. Withdrawing your consent will not impact how we comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
If you have any questions about how AFCA handles privacy, you can speak to an AFCA staff member or contact AFCA Privacy by email to privacy@afca.org.au.
Authority
By making a complaint to AFCA, you consent to AFCA considering your complaint against a financial firm/s in accordance with AFCA Rules. You authorise AFCA to:
- Exchange your information, including relevant sensitive information, to other parties or external organisations where reasonably necessary for the purpose of dealing with the complaint, and as required or permitted by law
- Refer the complaint to another financial firm or dispute resolution service where AFCA decides it is appropriate
- Exchange your information, including relevant sensitive information, between financial firms where there are multiple complaints against different financial firms
- If reasonably necessary, use your information collected for this complaint to resolve another complaint that may or may not be related to this complaint.
You also authorise your representative (or that representative’s organisation), other complaint parties, or the financial firm to exchange your information, including relevant sensitive information, to other parties for the purpose of dealing with the complaint, and as required or permitted by law.
Privacy notice for calls to AFCA's mainlines
AFCA records calls made to AFCA’s mainline phone numbers 1800 931 678, 1800 337 444 and 1300 565 562.
AFCA uses call recordings for quality and training purposes to improve the service we provide to you. These recordings are not intended to be used for other purposes except where required or permitted by law. For example, we may be required to disclose call recordings if compelled by a court process or formal notice from a government regulator.
When we finish using call recordings for the purpose they were collected, they will be destroyed unless AFCA is legally required or permitted to retain the recordings. We usually hold call recordings for up to 6 months.
If you do not give consent to your call being recorded, please tell our staff as soon as you speak to them, and they will stop recording the call.
We handle the personal information we collect in accordance with AFCA’s privacy policy. AFCA’s privacy policy is available here.
Our privacy policy includes information on how you can access or request a correction of your personal information that AFCA holds. It also sets out how you can make a complaint about how AFCA has handled your personal information.
You can request a copy of your call recording by speaking to our staff or contacting privacy@afca.org.au.
Privacy notice for AFCA’s recruitment process
The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) requires the Australian Financial Complaints Authority Ltd (ABN 38 620 494 340) (“AFCA”) to inform an individual about certain matters when we collect your personal information.
This notice relates to the collection and handling of your personal information when you apply for a role with AFCA and during our recruitment process.
The personal information we collect, use and disclose
The type of personal information that AFCA will generally collect includes:
- identity and contact information,
- information about your work experience and remuneration
- information about your education and qualifications,
- your citizenship status or proof of right to work, if applicable,
- other information you choose to inform us about, and
- other relevant personal information we may require.
AFCA requires this information to assess your job application. If we do not have this information or the information you give us in inaccurate, we will not be able to properly consider whether you are an appropriate candidate for a role at AFCA.
We will usually collect this information from you. We will also collect relevant information we require from third parties, such as your job referees or for background checks.
By applying for a job at AFCA, you authorise us to disclose your name and contact information to Xref Limited (Xref) and Kinatico Ltd (CVCheck) for the purpose of conducting job reference checks and background checks.
We will only engage Xref’s and CVCheck’s services if you progress in our recruitment process. Both Xref and CVCheck have privacy obligations when handling your personal information to provide their service, and their privacy policies are on their website. If you do not consent to AFCA using Xref and CVCheck to process your job application, we may not be able to progress your application.
AFCA also uses third-party service providers to process your application information. Most of your data will be processed within data centres located in Australia. For specific services, your data may be processed through data centres located in the US, Poland and the Netherlands.
If you are successful with your application
If AFCA offers you a role and you accept, you will be required to give us more information to process your employment, such as your tax information and your photo. We may also require your health and medical information to provide you with any reasonable adjustments you may require for your role.
The information we collect about you through this application process and to process your employment will form part of your AFCA employee record.
Not providing us with any reasonable additional information we require may have consequences for how we can process your employment.
If you are unsuccessful with your application
If you are not successful with your application with AFCA, we will generally retain your application for two years.
If AFCA used the services of Xref and CVCheck to consider your job application, Xref and CVCheck will retain your personal information in accordance with their privacy policy, and this may be for longer than two years. We may access your personal information held by Xref and CVCheck but only if reasonably necessary for our functions and activities and consistent with our privacy obligations.
Unless you tell us otherwise, we will also use your application information to consider your suitability for future roles at AFCA. If we consider you suitable for a future role, we will invite you to apply for that role.
More information about how AFCA handles personal information
Information about how AFCA generally handles personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy available here.
Our Privacy Policy includes information on how an individual can access or correct their personal information that AFCA holds. It also sets out how an individual can make a complaint about how AFCA has handled their personal information.
If there are any questions about how AFCA handles privacy, please contact AFCA’s membership team or send an email to AFCA Privacy at privacy@afca.org.au.
Privacy notice for membership services
Personal information we collect
When providing our membership service, AFCA may collect personal information about individuals who are members or member employees, agents or contractors. The type of personal information that AFCA will generally collect includes:
- identity and contact information,
- information about the type of service provided,
- member employee information,
- licensing information, if applicable,
- industry association information, and
- other personal information we may require.
How we use your personal information
AFCA requires this information to process an application for AFCA membership and provide membership services, including complaint handling services. Without this information, we may not be able to provide our services and this may impact any obligations a member may have that requires them to be a member of AFCA.
We may use and disclose personal information we have collected as set out under AFCA’s Rules, Constitution and Guidelines, and where generally required to provide and administer our membership service. We may also be required to disclose a member’s personal information when complying with our obligations under Australian Securities and Investments Commission Regulatory Guide 267.
Administration of our membership service may include disclosing a member’s personal information to regulators such as ASIC, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
When administering our membership service, we may use third-party service providers to process membership data and to communicate with our members. This may require your personal information to be processed overseas. We will only provide third-party service providers with your personal information that is reasonably necessary to enable use of their service.
If you are an individual member, your membership contact information will be made available on our website for consumers. We may disclose your personal information to an overseas recipient if you are located overseas or your employees, agents or contractors are located overseas or if a consumer is located overseas and makes a complaint about you.
More information about how AFCA handles personal information
Details about how AFCA handles personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy available here.
Our Privacy Policy includes information on how an individual can access or correct their personal information that AFCA holds. It also sets out how an individual can make a complaint about how AFCA has handled their personal information.
If there are any questions about how AFCA handles privacy, please contact AFCA’s membership team or send an email to AFCA Privacy at privacy@afca.org.au.
