Merixa Limited customer privacy notice

Contact details

Email

contact@merixa.co.uk

What information we collect, use, and why

We collect or use the following information to provide and improve products and services for clients:

• Names and contact details
• Addresses
• Occupation
• Payment details (including card or bank information for transfers and direct debits)
• Financial data (including income and expenditure)
• Transaction data (including details about payments to and from you and details of products and services you have purchased)
• Employment details (including salary, sick pay and length of service)
• Records of meetings and decisions
• Organisation, professional role, service requirements, project information and other business information provided in connection with an enquiry or engagement.

We collect or use the following personal information for information updates or marketing purposes:

• Names and contact details
• Profile information
• Marketing preferences
• Organisation, job title or professional role, sector and relevant interest in our services.

We collect or use the following personal information to comply with legal requirements:

• Name
• Contact information
• Identification documents
• Client account information
• Any other personal information required to comply with legal obligations
• KYC and AML due diligence information, including beneficial ownership, control, representative authority and information required to verify the client and persons acting on its behalf.

We collect or use the following personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims:

• Names and contact details
• Addresses
• Purchase or service history
• Relevant information from previous investigations
• Customer or client accounts and records
• Financial transaction information
• Correspondence
• Relevant engagement, project, proposal, deliverable and decision records required to investigate or respond to the matter.

Lawful bases and data protection rights

Under UK data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about lawful bases on the ICO’s website.

Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are set out in brief below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO’s website:

• Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. Read more about the right of access.
• Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. Read more about the right to rectification.
• Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. Read more about the right to erasure.
• Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. Read more about the right to restriction of processing.
• Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. Read more about the right to object to processing.
• Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you. Read more about the right to data portability.
• Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Read more about the right to withdraw consent.

If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.

To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.

Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your data

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to provide and improve products and services for clients are:

• Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.
• Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
  • We have a legitimate interest in establishing, administering and improving professional client relationships, communicating with authorised representatives of corporate clients, and efficiently delivering and managing our services, where this use is proportionate and does not override the individual’s rights and interests.

For more information on our use of legitimate interests as a lawful basis you can contact us using the contact details set out above.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for information updates or marketing purposes are:

• Consent - we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
  • We have a legitimate interest in developing and maintaining relevant professional business relationships and informing existing and prospective corporate clients and professional contacts about services, insights and developments that may reasonably be relevant to their organisation or professional role.

For more information on our use of legitimate interests as a lawful basis you can contact us using the contact details set out above.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to comply with legal requirements:

• Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims are:

• Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.
• Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
  • We have a legitimate interest in responding to and resolving queries, complaints and disputes, maintaining appropriate records, investigating relevant circumstances, and establishing, exercising or defending legal or contractual claims, where the processing is necessary and proportionate and does not override the individual’s rights and interests.

For more information on our use of legitimate interests as a lawful basis you can contact us using the contact details set out above.

Where we get personal information from

• Directly from you
• Legal bodies or professionals (such as courts or solicitors)
• Publicly available sources
• Credit reference agencies
• Third parties:
  • Existing clients, strategic alliance partners, professional advisers, introducers and other organisations or individuals making business referrals or introductions.

How long we keep information

Unless a longer or shorter period is required or permitted by law, we apply the following standard retention periods:

• Prospective client enquiries that do not result in an engagement: up to 2 years after the last meaningful contact.
• Client engagement records, contracts, correspondence and relevant service records: normally 6 years after the engagement ends.
• Accounting, invoice and transaction records: normally 6 years from the end of the relevant company financial year, or longer where required by law.
• KYC and AML due diligence and verification records, where applicable: normally 5 years after the business relationship ends or the relevant transaction is completed, subject to applicable legal requirements.
• Marketing contact information and preferences: retained while relevant and subject to periodic review, and until an individual objects or withdraws consent where applicable. Suppression or opt-out records may be retained as necessary to respect those preferences.
• Complaints, disputes and claims records: normally 6 years after the matter is closed, or longer where necessary for ongoing or reasonably anticipated legal proceedings.

We periodically review the personal information we hold and securely delete or anonymise it when it is no longer required.

For more information on how long we store your personal information or the criteria we use to determine this please contact us using the details provided above.

Who we share information with

Data processors

Website hosting, email, cloud storage and business administration service providers

This data processor does the following activities for us: They host our website and business systems, provide email, cloud storage and administrative services, and process personal information on our behalf only as necessary to provide those services.

Others we share personal information with

• Other financial or fraud investigation authorities
• Professional or legal advisors
• Regulatory authorities
• Organisations we’re legally obliged to share personal information with
• Third parties:
  • Selected strategic alliance partners, including law and accountancy firms, for agreed referrals, complementary services and permitted marketing communications.

Sharing information outside the UK

Where necessary, we may transfer personal information outside of the UK. When doing so, we comply with the UK GDPR, making sure appropriate safeguards are in place.

For further information or to obtain a copy of the appropriate safeguard for any of the transfers below, please contact us using the contact information provided above.

Organisation name: EEA-based clients and strategic alliance partners

Category of recipient: Professional services clients and partner organisations

Country the personal information is sent to: European Economic Area (EEA)

How the transfer complies with UK data protection law: The country or sector has been assessed as providing adequate protection to data subjects (also known as Adequacy Regulations or UK data bridge)

Where necessary, our data processors will share personal information outside of the UK. When doing so, they comply with the UK GDPR, making sure appropriate safeguards are in place.

For further information or to obtain a copy of the appropriate safeguard for any of the transfers below, please contact us using the contact information provided above.

Organisation name: IONOS Cloud Limited and approved EEA subprocessors

Category of recipient: Website hosting, email and cloud\/IT service providers

Country the personal information is sent to: Germany and other EEA countries

How the transfer complies with UK data protection law: The country or sector has been assessed as providing adequate protection to data subjects (also known as Adequacy Regulations or UK data bridge)

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at:
Email: contact@merixa.co.uk

If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO. 

The ICO’s address:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 
Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint