WORLDSOURCE PRIVACY INFORMATION
Privacy Policy
At Worldsource Group of Companies Inc. and its subsidiaries, Worldsource Financial Management Inc., and Worldsource Securities Inc., and affiliates (collectively “Worldsource”) we believe that your privacy is invaluable. That's why we take the protection and confidentiality of the personal information you entrust us with very seriously.
To serve you every day and provide you with products and services or meet our legal obligations, we need to collect, use and disclose certain personal information.
The information we collect is used to identify you, assess your eligibility for requested products and services, offer products and services that meet your expectations, help you take advantage of the benefits of being a client of Worldsource and manage the risks associated with our activities. We also use your information to comply with our legal obligations, which include the prevention of privacy breaches, cyber threats, fraud and other financial crimes.
It's our responsibility to ensure that all information collected is handled securely. This is the basis of our Privacy Policy (the "Policy") and how we apply it. The Privacy Policy explains why we collect your personal information, how we handle it and how we protect it.
Our Policy is based on 4 key principles:
- Your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by Worldsource;
- Our commitment to collect only necessary personal information;
- Our responsibility to protect the security and confidentiality of your personal information;
- and Our transparency regarding our practices and obligations in this regard.
GETTING YOUR CONSENTCOLLECTING ONLY WHAT'S NECESSARYBEING TRANSPARENT ABOUT OUR PRACTICESPROTECTING THE SECURITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF YOUR INFORMATIONRESPECTING YOUR RIGHTS WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR INFORMATIONUNDERSTANDING OUR POLICYCOOKIE POLICY
GETTING YOUR CONSENT
What Is My Consent to The Collection, Use and Disclosure of My Information?Can I Withdraw My Consent to The Collection, Use and Disclosure of My Personal Information Or Refuse To Provide Certain Information?What Is My Consent to The Collection, Use and Disclosure of My Information?
By giving your consent for Worldsource to use your personal information, you authorize Worldsource to collect, use and disclose your personal information in order to serve your needs and meet our legal obligations.
We collect, use and disclose only the personal information that is necessary, and only to the extent that the law authorizes us to collect, use or process it.
Your current consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information takes precedence over any previous consent. It remains valid as long as you have a business relationship with Worldsource.
Can I Withdraw My Consent to The Collection, Use and Disclosure of My Personal Information Or Refuse To Provide Certain Information?
If you decide to withdraw your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of the personal information, we will provide you with all of the information required to explain the impact of this decision on Worldsource’s ability to provide products and services to you.
In some cases, withdrawing your consent is not an option because of legal or contractual requirements.
If you refuse to allow us to collect certain personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the product or service requested or with certain benefits associated with that product or service.
COLLECTING ONLY WHAT'S NECESSARY
What Personal Information Do We Collect?How Is My Personal Information Collected?What Personal Information Do We Collect?
We have compiled a table of information below detailing all of the personal information we may collect from our clients.
Some categories of information are only collected when we provide particular products and services. If you do not own, use or acquire these products and services, we will not collect any related personal information.
We have organized the personal information that we collect into 9 categories in the table below, and we have provided examples for each category. We only collect the information we need to meet your day-to-day needs and our legal obligations.
| CATEGORIES | EXAMPLES |
| 1. Identification information |
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| 2. Authentication information |
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| 3. Information about your communications with us |
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| 4. Information about how you use our websites and applications |
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| 5. Information about your Worldsource products and services |
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| 6. Information about your financial situation |
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| 7. Information on communication choices and preferences |
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| 8. Other information to enable us to comply with our legal obligations |
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How Is My Personal Information Collected?
We collect your personal information from 3 sources:
Directly from you
When you want to obtain a product or service from Worldsource, or when you communicate with us, regardless of the method used—in person at one of our locations, by telephone, email or online chat—or when you complete a survey, we ask you to provide information about yourself.
The same goes if you contact us about our products and services; we need to identify you by asking you to answer authentication questions, for example.
This may involve information required to become a client of Worldsource, such as your first and last name and address, or more specific information.
We may also ask you to provide information about a third party.
When using the products and services of Worldsource
We collect information about you when you browse our websites or use our online and mobile applications and services.
This information may be collected through cookies or directly on our websites or applications. It may include information about your bank transfers, insurance claims and online investments.
For more details, please consult Learn more about the Cookies Policy.
From other sources
Depending on the situation, we may need to collect information about you from other individuals, organizations or entities, such as:
- A person that you have a joint product or service with, for whom you are the guarantor (surety), or who is a guarantor (surety) for you
- Credit reporting agencies and other financial institutions;
- Insurance databases
- Service providers
- Public bodies
- Personal referrals
- Public sources such as registries, official documents and websites
- Other relevant sources to provide you with the requested product or service
BEING TRANSPARENT ABOUT OUR PRACTICES
Who Has Access to My Personal Information?Who Can My Personal Information Be Disclosed To?WHAT DOES Worldsource USE MY PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR?
We use your personal information to serve you every day and to meet our legal obligations.
We will inform you if we plan to use your personal information for any purpose not disclosed in this privacy policy, unless we are legally authorized to use it otherwise.
As such, before we can serve you and provide you with our products and services, we must:
Identify you
- Confirm that we are providing products and services to the right person by verifying that you are who you say you are (identify you and validate your identity).
- Ensure that your personal information is still accurate, complete and up to date before we use it.; However, it is your responsibility to inform us of any changes.
Assess your eligibility for requested products and services
- Review your financial situation
- Reassess your financial obligations to us
- Review your insurance quotes and applications
- Evaluate whether the product or service requested meets your needs and goals, if necessary
- Review and update your file or credit rating to assess our risks
Offer products and services that meet your expectations
- Provide you with the product or service you requested
- Guide, advise and help you make the best decisions based on your expressed need, situation and goals
- Design statistical models to deliver products, services and advice that meet your needs
- Manage your current products and services
- Process your insurance claims
- Contact you
- Get your opinion after an interaction with Worldsource about a product or service
- Provide you with guidance and support, respond to your requests for information and refer you to the right person based on your request
- Handle complaints and dissatisfaction
Help you take advantage of the benefits of being a client of Worldsource
Manage the risks associated with our activities
- Assess and monitor the performance of our products and services, price them, improve them and create new ones
- Develop, maintain and improve internal audit systems, processes, methods, practices and procedures
- Design and build dashboards, indicators and other types of reports
- Find, identify and assess risks to continuously improve our products and services
We must also use your personal information to meet our legal obligations to:
Prevent cyber threats, fraud and other financial crimes
The term "other financial crimes" includes money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion, among others.
- Protect your assets
- Rapidly detect and prevent cyber threats, fraud and other financial crimes
- Design statistical models to facilitate detection and prevention
- Take corrective actions as required
- Keep relevant regulatory documents
- Report or flag specific transactions
- Investigate or facilitate investigations when required
- Cooperate with and inform the competent authorities when required
- Confirm the identity of clients using our products or services, for example, to:
- Identify you
- Validate the information you provided about yourself, your citizenship and nationality, your job title or function and your employer
- Confirm your sources of income
- Confirm the use of some of your products
Respond to information requests, warrants and orders from courts and other organizations
- Protect your rights and interests as well as our own
- Cooperate with legal proceedings or administrative investigations
- Work with any organization with the authority to prevent, detect or punish crime and violations of the law
- Respond to requests, warrants and orders from organizations with the authority to compel us to disclose your information
Comply with tax requirements
- Produce your tax statements when you hold a product or service that pays interest or investment income or requires tax treatment, such as for high-interest accounts, mutual funds or registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs)
- Comply with the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which requires us to report accounts held by individuals, non-resident entities or certain entities controlled by non-resident individuals
- Comply with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which requires us to report accounts held by US citizens to the US government
Who Has Access to My Personal Information?
Access to your information is limited to the employees and advisors of Worldsource who need to access it to perform their duties.
Our employees and advisors commit annually to protect the confidentiality of the personal information they need while performing their duties and must regularly take security and privacy training.
Who Can My Personal Information Be Disclosed To?
Our commitment is clear: We will never sell your personal information to anyone.
However, we may need to disclose your personal information to third parties in the normal course of business.
Courts, authorities and other agencies
Certain situations require us to disclose your personal information to courts, regulators, law enforcement authorities and other agencies.
This may be necessary to prevent cyber threats, fraud and other financial crimes, to respond to requests, warrants and orders or to meet our insurance obligations.
Other entities
From time to time, we may need to disclose some of your personal information with third parties, such as other financial institutions, mutual fund companies, credit reporting agencies, public and private fraud and claims databases and lending institutions.
Similarly, we may need to disclose some of your personal information to other people or ask them for information about you, for example, if you have a joint product or service with another person, if a third party is a guarantor (surety) for one of your obligations to us or if you are a guarantor (surety) for another person.
Suppliers and partners
We may disclose information about you to suppliers and partners
Here is a non-exhaustive list of examples of suppliers and partners:
- Printing companies
- Information technology services and products companies
- Client consulting firms mandated by Worldsource
- Cloud, web-hosting and data-processing services
- Creative and promotional agencies
- Legal services
- Credit reporting or collection agencies
- Human resources management and training companies
- Mutual fund companies
These partners and suppliers must contractually agree to comply with and abide by both our strict standards for the protection and confidentiality of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy as well as certain privacy protections mandated under provincial or federal law.
We entrust only our suppliers and partners with the personal information they need to perform their duties, functions and contractual obligations with Worldsource.
In addition to being subject to confidentiality obligations, the employees of suppliers who have access to personal information must also fully comply with our contractual requirements. Lastly, the suppliers and partners of Worldsource must apply adequate physical, information technology and administrative security measures.
We will inform you if a new need arises related to your personal information, unless we are authorized by law to disclose your information without your consent. In any case, we ensure the protection and confidentiality of the information we disclose.
PROTECTING THE SECURITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF YOUR INFORMATION
Is My Personal Information Secure?Where Is My Personal Information Stored?How Is My Information Stored?When And How Is My Information Disposed Of?Is My Personal Information Secure?
We apply the necessary security measures rigorously to ensure the protection of your personal information.
These measures may consist of:
Physical security measures
- Surveillance cameras
- Security guards
- Office access cards
- Locking filing cabinets
- Any other security measures required to limit access to authorized persons only
Technological security measures
- Password
- Data encryption
- Access management system
- Monitoring and control to detect suspicious activity
- Any other security measures required to limit access to authorized persons
Administrative security measures
- Access to your personal information limited to our employees and advisors who need it to perform their duties
- Adherence to the Code of Business Conduct and annual certification required of all our employees and advisors, with strict rules governing the protection of personal information
- Regular training and education of employees and advisors on the Code of Business Conduct, policies, practices and procedures on security and privacy
- Policies and procedures for monitoring, investigating and updating security systems and measures
- Ongoing monitoring and control to detect suspicious activity and potential deviations from organizational directives and policies
Where Is My Personal Information Stored?
Your information is usually stored in Canada, but we may use suppliers or partners located outside of the country.
If we need to disclose personal information with these suppliers and partners, Worldsource will ensure the protection and confidentiality of this information meets their own requirements and will ask these suppliers and partners to contractually agree to comply with and respect these requirements.
In all cases, we will ensure the protection and confidentiality of your information.
How Is My Information Stored?
We store your personal information in a secure and confidential manner for as long as it's required for us to meet our legal obligations.
For example, in Canada, we are subject to laws and regulations that stipulate minimum retention periods. The retention periods must take into account the exhaustion of potential remedies and limitation periods applicable in Canada. These retention periods vary depending on the situation. Therefore, we may retain your personal information after your relationship with us has ended.
When And How Is My Information Disposed Of?
Once the retention period has expired, we ensure that your personal information is safely disposed of or de-identified. While deletion is a final and irreversible disposal process, de-identification means that your personal information is altered so that it can no longer directly or indirectly identify you.
Deletion and de-identification are carried out in a safe and secure manner, in accordance with applicable best practices.
RESPECTING YOUR RIGHTS WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR INFORMATION
Can I Access, Correct or Update My Personal Information?What Can I Do If I Have Questions or If I'm Not Satisfied with The Handling Of My Personal Information?Can I Access, Correct or Update My Personal Information?
Yes, you can access your personal information at any time.
To do so, you must submit a written request to your advisor or to Worldsource.
Your request must be detailed enough to allow us to identify the documents or other media containing the personal information you wish to access.
We may need to validate your identity and the reason for your request.
We will inform you if there are any fees for processing your request. These fees, if any, are reasonable and are usually limited to the cost of transcription, reproduction or transmission. In such cases, we will ask for your permission before proceeding.
If you wish to submit a data portability request to obtain your personal information in a structured and commonly used technological format, you must contact your advisor.
Yes, you can correct inaccurate and incomplete personal information we have about you.
Contact your advisor if you wish to correct any inaccurate or incomplete information we have about you.
Yes, you can update the personal information we have about you.
If you wish to update the information we have about you — for example, after a change in your personal situation or a change of address — you are responsible for contacting your advisor.
What Can I Do If I Have Questions or If I'm Not Satisfied with The Handling Of My Personal Information?
If you have a question, concern or complaint about the processing of your personal information, here is how to proceed:
- First, contact your advisor.
- If you are not satisfied with the response you received, you may contact the Worldsource Privacy Officer at:
Worldsource Wealth Management
625 Cochrane Drive, Suite 700
Markham, Ontario L3R 9R9
By email privacy@worldsourcewealth.com
You must provide your name and contact information, the nature of your request, the name of the department or person you have already contacted and any relevant information.
If you wish, you may also contact the appropriate provincial or federal privacy commissioner.
UNDERSTANDING OUR POLICY
Who Is the Privacy Policy For?What Does the Privacy Policy Apply To?Can Your Privacy Policy Change and, If So, Will I Be Notified?Who Is the Privacy Policy For?
Any client of Worldsource, any person who communicates with us, regardless of the means used, and any individual whose personal information we collect in the course of our operations.
What Does the Privacy Policy Apply To?
The Privacy Policy applies to the personal information we collect and hold about you, which includes any information about you or your business relationship with Worldsource that allows us to identify you. It also includes information collected from you on our behalf by a Worldsource Advisor.
In addition, it applies to all products and services offered by any entity of Worldsource across Canada for which we collect personal information.
We collect, use, disclose and protect your personal information in accordance with Canada's privacy laws.
Can Your Privacy Policy Change and, If So, Will I Be Notified?
From time to time, we may make certain changes to our Privacy Policy. If we do, will post a notice on our website.
Be sure to check the Privacy Policy periodically for any updates. Changes are effective as of the date indicated on the Privacy Policy.
COOKIE POLICY
We may require the use of cookies so that our servers can identify a specific user and ensure that only that user sees their information. Cookies generated by Worldsource can only be read by our servers, thanks to special software installed and maintained on our servers. We do not use cookies for any other purposes. In the future, visitors to the secure (log-in) areas of the Worldsource Web site must have cookies enabled in their browsers.
We may collect and/or share aggregate statistics with our marketing and advertising partners and contractors or consultants to better understand our audience demographics and how our audience interacts with our webpages. We do not share information about individual users with any third party without your express consent. At all times we reserve the right to disclose information where required by law; to comply with valid legal processes such as a search warrant, subpoena or court order; to protect our company's rights and property; or during emergencies when safety is at risk.
In future, we may provide our members with a newsletter service with updates on the latest products, promotions, sales and new additions to the Web site. You may at any time unsubscribe from our newsletters by following the unsubscribe instructions in any E-mail you receive from us.