| At Northern Bank we store customer information to manage our customers’ accounts and to provide customers with services to suit their needs. What information we will hold and how we use it is explained below.
What information do we hold?
As one of our customers, you will have given us certain personal information about yourself, such as your name and address. We may currently hold other personal and financial information about you and we may obtain or receive further information about you in the future. Such information may include
- details you give us on application forms
- information we acquire from operating your accounts
- the identity of suppliers of goods and services to you
- the identity of suppliers of goods and services to you
- information from other organisations, such as credit reference and fraud prevention agencies
- information from people who know you, such as joint account holders and people with whom you are financially linked
There may be times when the information we hold about you includes some sensitive personal data, such as information relating to your health, racial or ethnic origin, sexual life, criminal convictions or proceedings. We will only hold such data when we need to for the purposes of the product or services we provide to you or when it is in the normal course of business to do so.
If you are a business customer, the information we hold will also include details you or others (such as your advisors) give us during financial reviews and interviews, as well as information we obtain from any analysis we make of the banking transactions of the business.
How we use your data
As well as using your data to operate the products and services we provide to you, we may need to use your data for a number of other reasons. For example,
- when you request a service or product from us we will use the details you provide to us and details we may already hold about you (such as how you manage your accounts with us) to assist us in our assessment process
- we will use your information to assess the suitability of our products and services for you including the making of credit decisions about you which may involve credit scoring
- we may use your data for research purposes and regular statistical analysis including risk and credit analysis, to develop, improve and market our products and services generally, to understand your purchasing preferences, and to produce management information relating to risk
- we may use your data for fraud prevention and debt recovery
- we may use your information to assist in the assessment of applications and to make other decisions during your relationship with us. Declined applications and decisions may also be reviewed manually
- if you are financially linked to another account holder within our banking group, the Danske Bank Group, we may look at your information when deciding whether to approve an application for credit by the person with whom you are linked, including when that person applies on behalf of a business that he or she owns
For our internal operational reasons we may link information concerning your accounts with us to information concerning other products and services we provide to you. We may also link your information to that of other individuals with whom you are financially associated, if you make a joint application or if you tell us that you have a spouse or personal partner.
Confidentiality
We appreciate that it is important for you to know that we will not give your personal and business information to anyone else. We will treat all your information as confidential at all times, even when you are no longer a customer. This means that we will not pass on information about you unless
- we have your permission to do so
- the law requires us to give the information
- we have a duty to the public to reveal the information
- it is in our legitimate interests to do so (for example to prevent fraud or recover money you owe us)
There are additional occasions when we need to provide information to others to help us and you to run your accounts. We do so when it is in your interests as well as ours. We have set them out below for your information.
We subscribe to the Banking Code and the Business Banking Code. In order to comply with such codes or in accordance with our duties to regulators, we may provide authorised persons with access to our records (which may include information about you) for reporting, auditing and compliance purposes. For the same reason, we will also retain information about you after you cease to be a customer.
We may provide information about you to someone you nominate or authorise to act on your behalf.
If we provide you with products and services involving insurance, we are required to pass your details to insurers. Information you provide in connection with any claims made under the insurance may be recorded on to a register of claims through which insurers share information to prevent fraudulent claims. A list of participants and the register operator is available from the insurers.
We may exchange information about you with other companies in the Danske Bank Group in order to assess credit risk, prevent fraud or to help us in the running of your accounts. We may also share your data within the Group to prepare research and statistical analysis including risk and credit analysis with the aim of improving our services. We will not exchange information about you with other companies in the Group for marketing purposes without your permission.
Northern Bank Limited is owned by Danske Bank A/S. The principal banks currently within the Danske Bank Group are Northern Bank, National Irish Bank, Danske Bank, BG Bank, Fokus Bank and Ostgota Enskilda Bank. You can ask for a complete list of the companies in the Danske Bank Group at any time by writing to us at Northern Bank Limited, Donegall Square West, Belfast BT1 6LT.
Service providers
From time to time we will engage service providers, agents and subcontractors to provide services and to process your information on our behalf. We will ensure that these service providers, agents and subcontractors are under a duty of confidentiality and security in relation to your information and that they process your information strictly in accordance with our instructions under written contract.
Protecting you
There are ways in which we may use your information to protect you:
- telephone calls may be recorded or monitored for your protection, for our staff training and for service quality purposes
- we use CCTV to record images in and around our premises for the prevention and detection of crime
- before we provide any service we will perform anti money laundering checks, which may include searches to verify your identity
Credit reference agencies
We may ask credit reference agencies to supply us with information about you when you apply for a credit product or when you request an increase to any existing credit product that we may already provide to you. As part of processing your application or request, we will ask you to formally consent to our searching the information held by credit reference agencies. With your permission, the agencies will then supply us with credit information and other information for us to use in our assessment of your application.
Information held about you by credit reference agencies may be linked to records about individuals with whom you have made a joint applications or with whom you are otherwise financially linked, such as a spouse or personal partner. Information about those with whom you are financially linked may be used by us if credit decisions are made about you.
Fraud prevention
To prevent or detect fraud, or to assist in verifying your identity, we may make searches of Group records and at fraud prevention agencies who will supply us with information. We may also pass information to,and receive information from, financial and other organisations in the prevention of fraud. If you give us false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud, we will record this.
Information from credit reference and fraud prevention agencies may also be used to help us make decisions on insurance proposals or claims.
Please contact us on 0800 587 0441 if you would like details of the agencies from which we obtain and record information about you. Credit reference and fraud prevention agencies will also use the information for statistical analysis about credit, insurance and fraud. We may also use the information they supply to use for statistical analysis about credit and fraud.
We are an international group. We operate throughout Europe. Please help us. We want our service to meet your expectations on all occasions. In order for it to do so, we need the information we hold about you to be accurate and up to date. Please help us by informing us promptly of any changes to your personal circumstances.
You are entitled to a copy of the personal information we hold about you for which we charge a small administration fee. You can also ask us to correct any inaccurate data we hold about you. You must write to us if you wish to see this information.
Information and offers
Through our marketing programme, we will identify and inform you about products and services supplied by the Group or selected third parties that we consider may be of interest to you. We may contact you by post, phone, or other reasonable means (unless you have asked us not to) and we will provide you with sufficient detail so that you can make an informed choice. We may also contact you by email, SMS text messaging and fax if you ask us to.
You are under no obligation to take up the products or services offered. You can inform us in writing at any time if you do not want to receive marketing information. We will remind you of this right at least once every three years.
If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your information, please call us on 0800 587 0441. | | |