Privacy policy

Aware Super is committed to safeguarding the privacy of information provided to us and information about visitors to our website, apps and offices. This Privacy Policy explains how we may collect, use, hold and disclose information that we obtain about you, and your rights in relation to that information.

Your privacy is important to us

This privacy policy applies to the following entities:

• Aware Super Pty Ltd (ABN 11 118 202 672) as the trustee for Aware Super (ABN 53 226 460 365);
• Aware Financial Services Australia Limited (ABN 86 003 742 756;
• Aware Super Legal Pty Ltd (ABN 91 606 835 170;
• VicSuper Pty Ltd (ABN 69 087 619 412); and
• Aware Super Services Pty Ltd (ABN 67 633 384 059).

References to “Aware Super”, “we”, “us” or “our” throughout this document refer individually or collectively to the above entities.

This Policy is addressed to individuals outside of our organisation with whom we interact, including individual employer clients, authorised representatives of employer client organisations, visitors to our offices (the locations of our offices can be found at https://aware.com.au/locations, visitors to our website and any other associated websites under our control (together our “websites”), users of our apps, our members or affiliated services and their nominated beneficiaries, (together, “you”). Defined terms used in this Policy are explained in the Glossary at the end of this Policy.

This Policy may be amended or updated from time to time to reflect changes in our practices with respect to the handling of personal or sensitive information, or changes to applicable law. We encourage you to read this Policy carefully, and to regularly check this page to review any changes we might make to the terms of this Policy. All information about you which is held by us, will be governed by our most recent Policy.

Laws applicable to this Privacy Policy

We have obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Privacy Act’) and applicable state/territory privacy acts, to have a privacy policy, and to handle your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

Collection of Personal Information

We collect personal information from you, through our interactions with you and as part of providing our products and services. The personal information we collect will depend on the context of your interactions with us, and the choices you make, including your communication preferences and the products and services you use. We may also obtain personal information about you from third parties.

The main way we collect personal information about you is when you give it directly to us (eg. when you contact us), however we may also collect personal information:

(i) when you or the organisation you work for engages us (eg. if we provide a product or service to you);
(ii) from a superannuation fund if you are rolling over benefits into or out of Aware Super;
(iii) when you apply for a role or work placement opportunity, open day or recruitment events with us;
(iv) when you visit our website or use our online services (including our mobile app);
(v) when you complete online forms on our website;
(vi) when you attend our member seminars, the Annual Member Meeting, or other hosted events;
(vii) when you visit our offices and register as a visitor;
(viii) when you selected communication preferences to receive publications and other marketing information (please see ‘Direct Marketing’ section for more information); or
(ix) from other representatives, authorised by you to act on your behalf (eg. financial adviser, power of attorney death claim); and
(x) if you are a client of Aware Super Legal Pty Ltd*.

We may also receive personal information about you from government agencies (ie. the Australian Tax Office, law enforcement authorities).

If you choose not to provide the requested personal information, we may not be able to provide important services to you, for example determining your eligibility for a superannuation benefit.

*Please note: Aware Super Legal Pty Ltd is required to collect the full name and address of its clients by the Solicitors Rules made under the Legal Profession Uniform Laws (NSW).

Cookies and Similar Technologies
We may collect your personal information using Cookies and similar technologies. For more information, please see our Aware Super Cookie Policy.

Types of Personal Information Collected

We may collect and hold a range of personal information about you. This may include, but is not limited to:

• name, address, date of birth and contact details;
• Tax File Number (TFN);
• employment details and employment history;
• financial information such as bank balance, superannuation balance, assets, liabilities, investments, insurance, income and expenditure;
• payment information including bank account and credit card details;
• information about your family corporate structure, such as entities or any trusts, including beneficiaries and settlors;
• information about your family commitments and social security eligibility and entitlements;
• details of your financial circumstances and objectives including your risk tolerance;
• information about your beneficiaries; and
• details about your citizenship, residency or visa status.

Collection of Sensitive Information
Sometimes we may need to collect sensitive information about you, for example, to process an insurance claim or to handle a complaint. Some of this information may be collected from you and provided to our insurers. If required, we may obtain independent medical reports directly from your medical practitioner(s).

Use of Personal Information

We may use your personal information to carry out our functions or activities or to provide you with a product or service, including to:

• open, administer and maintain your membership/client account and records;
• establish and administer the financial and superannuation products and services (including insurance cover) that you acquire from or through us;
• assist employers in meeting their superannuation obligations;
• facilitate our internal review procedures;
• trace different superannuation accounts in your name and if necessary, use your TFN to match your accounts and consolidate them in line with our policy on consolidation;
• provide you with financial planning advice and related services, including the preparation of advice documents and implementation documents (i.e. in order to implement financial planning recommendations for you);
• provide you with estate planning services;
• provide you with promotional information and services about us;
• conduct identity verification;
• conduct pre and ongoing employment background checks;
  
• directly market our products and services to you; including through social media and other digital platforms;
• undertake market research*, member/client satisfaction surveys and member/client data analysis;
• improve our products and services;
• deceased estate administration; and
• comply with all applicable laws.

If you apply for a job with us, we will collect your information for recruitment purposes, to manage your application and your ongoing employment.

*Due to the nature of our business, it is difficult for us to deal with you anonymously and to do so may restrict the range of products and services we can offer you. On some occasions (such as participating in a market survey), you may have the option to deal with us anonymously or use a pseudonym.

Disclosure of Personal Information

We may disclose your personal information to third parties for legitimate business purposes (including operating our website and our mobile app, and providing products and services to you), if you have consented to it, or if we are permitted to do so by law, and we will do so in accordance with applicable law and subject to applicable regulatory requirements. This includes, but is not limited to:

• our related entities;
• financial institutions, payroll platforms, clearing houses;
• our legal advisers and auditors;
• employers or former employers (non-sensitive information only);
• legal or regulatory authorities;
• our service providers (such as providers of data hosting or warehousing services and document review services);
• any party you have authorised to act on your behalf (such as your power of attorney, trustee or financial adviser);
• any relevant medical, health and wellbeing professionals in connection with an insurance claim and our insurer;
• government agencies (such as Centrelink, WorkCover, ATO, Department of Veterans’ Affairs);
• international agencies with your consent (such as a KiwiSaver fund);
• other organisations or super funds (such as your employer, other super funds where you are transferring into or out of our fund);
• any relevant party, law enforcement agency or court, as required by law (such as your spouse or former spouse as required by a court order under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth));
• any relevant third-party acquirer(s), in the event that we sell or transfer all or any portion of our business or assets (including in the event of a reorganization, dissolution or liquidation); and
• any relevant third-party provider, where our website and our app use third party advertising, plugins or content.

We recommend that you review that third party’s privacy policy before interacting with its advertising, plugins, or content.

Direct Marketing

We may use your personal information to send you direct marketing communications and information about our services and products, in accordance with the Spam Act, Do Not Call Register Act and the Privacy Act.

If we use or disclose your sensitive information for the purpose of direct marketing, we would only do so with your express consent.

We engage third party service providers to assist us with delivering direct marketing via various channels, including through social media and other digital platforms. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is protected when disclosing information to such third parties.

Sometimes, we may de-identify your information before disclosing it to third parties to facilitate our marketing activities.

Members may opt-out of receiving direct marketing communications by contacting us using the details provided in this Policy or by using the relevant opt-out facilities provided in each communication (e.g. an unsubscribe link).

Consumer Insights

We may collect, use or disclose personal information about you in order to combine the information that we hold about you with information collected from or held by other trusted partners or from public sources. We do this to enable the development of consumer insights about you so that we and other trusted companies can serve you better.

This includes being able to better understand your preferences and interests, personalise your experience, enhance the products and services you receive, and to tell you about products and services.

We may also use trusted service providers to undertake the process of creating these consumer insights. If you don’t want us to develop and use these insights about you, you must “Opt-out”. To do so, please contact us using the information provided in the contact details section below.

Holding Personal Information

We may hold personal information in hard copy and electronic formats, including cloud storage. We aim to keep the personal information only for as long as we need it for business or legal reasons. In accordance with the law, you can withdraw your consent to us holding your personal information at any time.

Storing personal information overseas
In some cases, we engage third parties to host electronic data (including data in relation to the services we provide) on our behalf. These data warehouses may be located overseas including: the United States, United Kingdom, North America and Europe. These data warehouses will have in place appropriate security and privacy protocols to comply with the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles.

Security

We take security measures to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These include physical (for example, security passes to enter our offices and storage of files in lockable cabinets) and technology (for example, restriction of access, firewalls, the use of encryption, user logons, passwords, biometric authentication and digital certificates) security measures.

Members, clients and employers have access to their accounts online and these details are held in a secure environment. If you visit an unsecured area of our public website, that does not require your log in details, we will not collect or retain your personal information. If you complete any forms on the public website, we will retain your contact information securely.

Users can play an important role in the security of their information by keeping their user logins and passwords to their online accounts and our mobile applications confidential and ensuring their biometric identifier for authentication used to access the mobile applications is the only identifier stored on their mobile devices. We encourage you to be vigilant about the protection of your own personal information when using third party digital services (such as social media platforms).

As far as reasonably practicable, we will make sure that our relationships with third parties include appropriate protection of your privacy.

Data breaches

We may need to notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and affected individuals if we become aware of an eligible data breach. We have policies and procedures in place to identify and assess data breaches and to notify the OAIC if required.

Your legal rights to access and correct your information

The privacy laws of some jurisdictions may give you a number of rights including:

(i) the right not to provide your personal information to us;
(ii) the right of access to your personal information;
(iii) the right to request rectification of inaccuracies in your personal information;
(iv) the right to object to the processing of your personal information;
(v) the right to have your personal information transferred to a third party;
(vi) the right to withdraw your consent; and
(vii) the right to lodge complaints.

We may require proof of identity before we can give effect to your exercise of any of these rights.

If you would like to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, or would like to take steps to exercise any of your other rights, please contact us in writing as set in the section below. We may refuse to provide access and may charge a fee for access if the relevant legislation allows us to do so.

Information we hold about you should be kept up-to-date and accurate. Please advise us in writing of any changes to your information using the ‘Contact Details’ set out below.

Enquiries and complaints

If you have any comments, questions or concerns about data privacy or would like to make a complaint about a breach of your privacy, please visit our Enquiry Form, choosing "privacy issue" from the subject drop down menu.
Generally, we will endeavour to respond or resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. If you are not satisfied with the outcome provided, or we have not responded within 30 days of receipt of your complaint, you can refer your issue to the OAIC or the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA):

OAIC
GPO Box 5218,
Sydney NSW 2001
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Call: 1300 363 992

Australian Financial Complaints Authority
GPO Box 3 Melbourne VIC 3001
Email: info@afca.org.au
Call: 1800 931 678

Glossary

App
Means any application made available by us (including where we make such applications available via third party stores or marketplaces, or by any other means).

Australian Privacy Principles (APP’s)
The Australian Privacy Principles are principles-based law. There are thirteen privacy principles that must be complied with.

Cookie
Means a small file that is placed on your device when you visit a website (including our Sites). In this Policy, a reference to a “Cookie” includes analogous technologies such as web beacons and clear GIFs.

Personal Information
Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable: whether the information or opinion is true or not; and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

Sensitive Information
Sensitive information is personal information that includes information or an opinion about an individual’s: racial or ethnic origin; political opinions or associations; religious or philosophical beliefs or affiliations; trade union membership or associations; sexual orientation or practices; criminal record; health or genetic information; or some aspects of biometric information. Generally, sensitive information has a higher level of privacy protection than other personal information.

Site
Means any website operated, or maintained, by us or on our behalf.