We will treat all your personal information as private and confidential (even when you are no longer a customer). Nothing about Your accounts nor your name and address will be disclosed to anyone, including other companies in our group, other than in four exceptional cases permitted by law. These are:

• Where we are legally compelled to do so;
• Where it is in the public interest to disclose;
• Where our interests require disclosure;
  (This will not be used as a reason for disclosing information about you or Your accounts (including your name and address) to anyone else including other companies in our group for marketing purposes.)
• Where disclosure is made at your request or with your written consent.

Credit risk management services

Information about your personal debts owed to us may be disclosed to credit risk management services where:

• You have fallen behind with your payments and you have not made proposals satisfactory to us for repayment of your debt following formal demand and you have been given at least 28 calendar days' notice of our intention to disclose; or
• You have given us written, electronic, or in the case of telephone banking verbal, consent; or
• You have a cheque referred to drawer, the information is placed on a cheque verification service.
• Where the amount owed or arrears amount is in dispute, the fact (but not the amount) of this dispute will also be disclosed.

Data transparency

We will inform you of your rights to access your personal information held by us.

Protecting Your accounts

Identification:

When you first apply to open an account or obtain a loan, we will inform you what identification we need to prove identity. This is important for your security and may be required by law. We will also inform you what checks we may make with credit risk management services.

Taking care:

Taking care of your cheque book, savings account book, cards, electronic purse, PINs, passwords and selected personal information is essential to help prevent fraud and protect Your accounts. Please ensure that you:

• Do not keep your chequebook or your PIN and cards together;
• Do not allow anyone else to use your card, PIN, password or other unique means of personal identification;
• Always take reasonable steps to keep your card, PIN, password and other unique means of personal identification secret, safe and secure at all times; never disclose your PIN or password to anybody, including family, friends or any bank employee who offers to assist you;
• Never write down or record your PIN, password or other unique means of personal identification. If you must write it down, ensure that it is not accessible to others and that it is disguised. For example, never write down or record your PIN using the numbers in the correct order;
• Be alert to the risk of muggings and card swapping when using ATMs or other electronic banking devices;
• Do not use ATMs or associated systems that have obviously been tampered with or that contain warning messages;
• Do not use PINs that are easy to guess, such as 1111 or 12345 or your date of birth, etc; and
• Use your credit card with care.

It is essential that you tell us as soon as you can if you suspect or discover that:

• Your cheque book, savings account book, cards and/or electronic purse has been lost or stolen;
• Someone else knows your PIN, password or your other unique means of personal identification; or
• There are transactions on your accounts which you have not authorised.

Loss - what to do:

When you report a lost or stolen cheque book, savings account book, card or electronic purse, please ensure that we give you a code or other reference to confirm that you have reported it.

After you inform us that a chequebook, savings account book, card or electronic purse has been lost or stolen or that someone else knows your PIN, password or other unique means of personal identification, we will take immediate steps to prevent these from being used to access your account.

Responsibility for losses:

We will refund you the amount of any transaction together with any interest and charges:

• Where you have not received your card and it is misused by someone else;
• For all transactions not authorised or effected by you after you have informed us (and we have given you a reference number);
• If additional money is transferred from your account to your electronic purse after you have informed us of its loss or theft (and we have given you a reference number) and you have informed us that someone else knows your PIN, password or unique means of personal identification; or
• Where faults have occurred in the ATMs, or associated systems used, which were not obvious or subject to a warning message or notice at the time of use.
  We expect you to report all incidents of stolen chequebooks, savings account books, cards or fraudulent transactions to the police for investigation.

Electronic purse:

You should treat your electronic purse like cash in a wallet. You may lose any money left in the electronic purse at the time it is lost or stolen, in just the same way as if you lost your wallet.

Cards:

We accept that if it is clear that members of the public are vulnerable to crime if they transact at certain ATMs, we will take reasonable precautions to minimise crime at those ATMs.

You also have a responsibility to take reasonable precautions when using an ATM to minimise the possibility of criminal activities. You are requested to adhere to any notices of caution at ATMs in order to protect yourself against criminal activities at ATMs. In particular do not let anybody come near you or distract you while you are transacting at the ATM.

Where a credit card transaction is disputed, we have the burden of proving fraud or negligence or that you have received your card. In such cases we would expect you to co-operate with us and with the police in any investigation.

Fraud and gross negligence:

If you act fraudulently you will be liable for all losses. If you act with negligence which has caused losses you may be liable for them.