BANK MUSCAT PRIVACY POLICY
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION TO BANK MUSCAT SAOG’S PRIVACY POLICY
COLLECTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
USING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
DISCLOSING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION OVERSEAS
MANAGING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
HOW DO I ACCESS MY PERSONAL INFORMATION?
HOW DO I REQUEST CORRECTION OF MY INFORMATION?
Protecting your privacy
Protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information is fundamental to the way Bank Muscat does business.
As a banking and financial services organisation, Bank Muscat has a long history of handling personal information, including sensitive information, confidentially. We value the ongoing trust you have in us to protect your privacy.
Personal information is information or an opinion about you.
This Privacy Policy explains how Bank Muscat will manage and protect your personal information, including information that Bank Muscat collects during the course of providing a product or service to you and the information Bank Muscat holds after your product or service is terminated (where we are required to hold this information or it is necessary for our functions). This Privacy Policy also applies to information that Bank Muscat collects from third parties including the information Bank Muscat receives through the credit reporting system.
This Privacy Policy contains information about how you can access the information Bank Muscat holds about you, how you can ask Bank Muscat to correct your information and how you can make a complaint if you have concerns about how Bank Muscat has managed your information.
How to contact Bank Muscat
If you have any questions or would like more information about this Privacy Policy you may contact the person, department or branch that you normally deal with. Alternatively, you may call the Bank Muscat Call Centre on at any time or email your question or request to
Bank Muscat collects your personal information so that we can perform our various functions and activities. Bank Muscat also collects your personal information if the law requires us to collect it.
If Bank Muscat does not collect your personal information, we may not be able to deal with you, or provide you with a product or service.
Bank Muscat collects most personal information directly from you. For example, you provide us with your information when you open an account, fill in an application form, deal with us over the telephone, send us a letter, use our websites or visit a branch.
If you apply for one of Bank Muscat’s products or services, Bank Muscat may collect and hold information from you such as your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, date of birth, annual income and other financial details, place of work, credit history, and your transaction history.
Collecting information from third parties
Bank Muscat may also collect information about you that is publicly available, including information from directories or other websites.
There may be occasions when Bank Muscat collects personal information about you from a third party. For example, Bank Muscat may collect personal information from:
Bank Muscat may also collect information about how you use Bank Muscat’s and other websites to help us better tailor our services to you. For example, Bank Muscat may do this when you click on a link from an Bank Muscat website or visit a website which displays an Bank Muscat advertisement.
Usually, the information we collect in this way is general information only derived from cookies – such as the number of visitors to a site or statistics about how a site is browsed – and does not identify you. If Bank Muscat does identify you with this information (for example, if you have been logged onto an online Bank Muscat service), any use or disclosure of that information will be in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Collecting sensitive information
Sensitive information is personal information about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, criminal record, genetic information or health information.
Bank Muscat will not collect, use or disclose sensitive information about you unless we need the information for one of our functions or activities and we have your consent (or we are legally required to do so).
Collecting information required by law
Bank Muscat may collect information from you because we are required or authorised by an Omani law or court or tribunal order to collect that information. We will tell you if collection is required or authorised by law and provide you with details of the law, court or tribunal order.
We may use and disclose personal information we collect about you for several purposes including:
· to consider your request for a product or service;
· to enable Bank Muscat to provide a product or service;
· to tell you about other products and services that may be of interest to you;
· to assist in arrangements with other organisations (such as loyalty partners) in relation to the promotion or provision of a product or service;
· to manage accounts and perform other administrative and operational tasks (including risk management, systems development and testing, credit scoring and staff training, collecting debts and market or customer satisfaction research);
· to consider any concerns or complaints you raise against Bank Muscat and/or to manage any legal action between you and Bank Muscat;
· to prevent or investigate any actual or suspected fraud, unlawful activity or misconduct;
· to identify you or establish your tax status under any Omani or foreign legislation, regulation or treaty pursuant to an agreement with any tax authority; and
· as required by relevant laws, regulations, codes of practice and external payment systems.
Bank Muscat may need to disclose your information to organisations located overseas.
The most common reason for Bank Muscat disclosing information overseas is because we use service providers to perform some functions on our behalf, and some of these service providers are located overseas. We only disclose your information to these organisations when it is necessary for the services they provide Bank Muscat.
For the most part, these service providers which perform a range of technology, operational and customer service functions for Bank Muscat.
Bank Muscat may also use other offshore service providers to help provide you with our products and services or identify ways to improve our service to you.
In some circumstances, the nature of the product or service you request may require Bank Muscat to disclose your information overseas and the countries to which we may disclose your information will depend on the particular circumstances. For example, if you request to transfer funds to an overseas account using a telegraphic transfer, Bank Muscat will be required to disclose your information to one or more overseas banks that are involved in making the payment. The location of these banks depends on where you want to send your funds.
If Bank Muscat discloses information that we have received through the credit reporting system to Bank Muscat’s branches, they will use and disclose that consistent with Bank Muscat’s credit reporting practices described in the section titled Credit Reporting below.
About credit reporting
If you apply for credit from Bank Muscat, we may request a credit report about you from a credit reporting body. These credit reports contain information which assists us to assess your application, including information about your credit history with other credit providers. Credit reporting bodies can provide credit providers with credit reports in certain circumstances, including when an individual makes an application for credit, or when a credit provider is seeking to help an individual avoid defaulting on their credit. Credit reports are designed to assist credit providers to accurately assess an individual’s ability to repay credit.
To request a credit report, Bank Muscat will provide information to the credit reporting body that identifies you, as well as information about your application – including the type and amount of credit you are applying for.
In addition to collecting information about your credit history from a credit reporting body, we also collect this type of information through your use of Bank Muscat products. For instance, we collect information about the credit you hold through Bank Muscat and how you make repayments on those credit products. We collect this information to help manage the product you hold with Bank Muscat. For example, Bank Muscat may use this information to determine whether you need assistance to meet your repayment obligations.
Some of this information about the credit you hold with Bank Muscat is disclosed to a credit reporting body so it can be included in your credit report and shared with other credit providers that participate in the credit reporting system.
Bank Muscat will also need to assess your eligibility if you nominate to be a guarantor for another person. This may involve Bank Muscat obtaining information about you from a credit reporting body and reviewing information we already hold about you.
Occasionally, Bank Muscat may collect your credit information directly from other credit providers, including other banks. Bank Muscat will collect information from other credit providers with your consent or if that credit provider and Bank Muscat are jointly providing credit to you.
Using information collected through the credit reporting system
If Bank Muscat collects credit information about you through the credit reporting system, Bank Muscat will use that information for several purposes, including:
· to assess your application for credit;
· to assist you to avoid defaulting on your credit obligations;
· to assess your suitability to act as a guarantor;
· to manage accounts and carry out general administration and operational tasks (for example, risk management, development of systems, systems testing, market and customer satisfaction research, staff training, credit scoring
· and collecting debts); and
· as required by relevant laws, regulations, codes of practice and payment systems.
Bank Muscat will often combine the information obtained from a credit reporting body with information Bank Muscat already holds about you. For instance, when Bank Muscat assesses your application for credit, we may combine information about other products you hold (including how much you hold on deposit and how you have repaid existing Bank Muscat credit), the information you provide on your application form and the credit report we obtain from a credit reporting body to calculate a rating or score, which will determine whether you qualify for the credit you are applying for.
Disclosing your credit information
When you apply for credit with Bank Muscat, we seek your consent to disclose your personal information, including the information we receive through the credit reporting system, to third parties. The terms and conditions of your product or service will identify who Bank Muscat discloses your information to.
Bank Muscat may disclose information it receives through the credit reporting system to related entities of Bank Muscat (who use and disclose the information in the same way), agents and contractors or service providers (such as debt collection agencies), other credit providers (for them to assess credit or investigate suspected fraud) and your guarantors. Bank Muscat may also disclose this information when required or authorised to do so by law including when Bank Muscat is required to disclose this information to regulatory bodies, government agencies and law enforcement bodies or courts.
Fraud
If you believe you have been, or are likely to be, a victim of fraud (for example, because you discover someone else is applying for credit in your name), you may request credit reporting bodies not to use or disclose credit reports they hold about you. You can do this by contacting them directly.
Managing your credit information
Bank Muscat manages credit information that we have collected about you through the credit reporting system in the same way we manage all other personal information about you.
This Policy provides information about: how you can seek access to the credit information that we hold about you, including information that we have obtained from credit reporting bodies or other credit providers; how to seek correction of this information and how to make a complaint if you believe your privacy has been interfered with.
Bank Muscat may require your consent to use and/or disclose your information in particular ways.
Depending on the circumstances, this consent may be express (for example, you expressly agree to the specific use of your information by ticking a box) or implied by some action you take or do not take (for example, your agreement is implied by the fact that you have agreed to your product terms and conditions which contains information about the use or disclosure).
As part of our service to you, we may use personal information we have collected about you to identify a product or service that may benefit you.
The Bank Muscat branch or unit you deal with may contact you from time to time to let you know about new or existing products or services. It may also disclose your personal information to related Bank Muscat entities or business partners to enable them to tell you about a product or service.
You can contact the relevant Bank Muscat branch you deal with at any time if you do not want to receive marketing information from them.
Bank Muscat will not use any information that we have received through the credit reporting system for marketing purposes.
Bank Muscat protects your information
Bank Muscat protects your personal information from misuse and loss. We also protect it from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure by ensuring that your personal information can only be accessed by people properly authorised to have access.
Bank Muscat may store your personal information in hardcopy documents or electronically. Bank Muscat maintains physical security, such as locks and security systems, over our paper and electronic data stores and premises. Bank Muscat also maintains computer and network security. For example, Bank Muscat uses firewalls (security measures for the internet) and other security measures such as identification codes and passwords to control access to computer systems. Bank Muscat continually maintains and monitors its online security systems to ensure that Bank Muscat’s online banking services are secure and that your personal information is appropriately protected when you use these services.
Protecting your privacy
You can help us to protect your privacy by observing our security requirements and contacting us immediately if your contact details change.
We require you to keep your personal identification number (PIN), passwords and access codes confidential and secure at all times. This means that you should not disclose your PIN, passwords or access codes to any other person. You should contact Bank Muscat immediately if you believe that your PIN, passwords or access codes may have been disclosed to another person or if you would like to change your PIN or password.
Subject to some exceptions, you can find out what personal information Bank Muscat holds about you, including what information we have obtained through the credit reporting system.
You should contact Bank Muscat if you wish to find out about the personal information Bank Muscat holds about you. We will need to verify your identity before giving you access.
We will normally be able to deal with your request immediately. If the request is complex, we will ask you to complete a personal information request form. We can usually deal with such a request within 14 to 30 days
Depending on the complexity of your request, we may charge a fee for processing the request. Please refer to our fees and charges booklets for our standard fees and charges.
Bank Muscat will usually provide access to your information at the branch or office closest to you in order to protect the confidentiality and security of your information. However, you may elect to receive your information by registered mail or courier, where practicable.
In certain circumstances, Bank Muscat may not be able to tell you what personal information is held about you. In these circumstances, we will write to you to explain why we cannot provide you with the information and attempt to find alternative means to enable you to access your information.
If you believe that the personal information we hold is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, you should contact us.
We will promptly update any personal information that is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. If you ask Bank Muscat to correct information that we have received through the credit reporting system or information we have previously disclosed to credit reporting bodies, we will consult with other credit reporting bodies and credit providers about the accuracy of your information, as necessary. If we do not agree that your information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, we will write to you and tell you the reason(s) why we do not agree with you. We will also tell you what you can do if you are not satisfied with our response.
You are entitled to complain if you believe that your privacy has been compromised or that Bank Muscat has breached its duty of confidentiality to you.
If you have a privacy complaint, you can contact the person, Bank Muscat department or branch that you have been dealing with. Alternatively, you can lodge a complaint online at www.bankmuscat.com
Managing your complaint
If you make a complaint, Bank Muscat will respond within 48 hours to let you know who is responsible for managing your complaint. Bank Muscat will try to resolve your complaint within 10 working days. When this is not possible, Bank Muscat will contact you within that time to let you know how long we will take to resolve your complaint.
Bank Muscat will investigate your complaint and where necessary, consult with other credit providers or credit reporting bodies about your complaint. Bank Muscat will make a decision about your complaint and write to you to explain our decision.