BLACK STONE FUTURES

PRIVACY POLICY

Who are we 

This policy is provided to you by Blackstone Futures (‘BSF’) a juristic representative of Trade Nation Financial (PTY) Limited. BSF is aware of the trust you place in us when you visit our site or utilise our products or services, and of our responsibility to protect your information.

This policy describes who we are, why we need to collect your information and how we will use it. It will inform you who we share your information with and how we use data to improve the products and service we provide to you.

“We”, “Us” or “Our” in this policy refers to BSF and our affiliates, consisting of the following companies:

Blackstone Futures (‘BSF’) a juristic representative of Trade Nation Financial (PTY) Limited, a company registered in South Africa with a company number 2018/418755/07, whose registered office is The Mall Offices, 5th Floor, 11 Craddock Avenue, Rosebank, 2196 and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) registration number 49846.

Finsa Europe Limited is a service provider BSF, a company registered in the UK with company number 07073413, whose registered office is 9th Floor, 30 Crown Place, London, EC2A 4ES and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registration number 525164.

The entities above adhere to personal data processing obligations set out in Protection of Personal Information Act 2013 whenever they provide online Contracts for Difference (CFD), spread betting, spread trading and spot forex products to retail and other customers, and act as data controllers of your Personal Information in relation to specific services they deliver.

Any reference to ‘you’, ‘your’, ‘yours’ or ‘yourself’ in this policy is a reference to any of our clients, potential clients or people visiting our websites as the context requires unless otherwise stated. 

Our legal requirements and personal information we collect

As part of providing our products and services or information about our product and services to you, we need to verify your identity to set you up as a client and we need to use those details in order to effectively manage your account with us to ensure that you are getting the best possible service from us.

We are required by law to collect and verify certain Personal Information and execute Know Your Customer (KYC) checks. The laws governing these requirements, where applicable, include:

  • Financial Sector Regulation Act (Act 9 of 2017)
  • The Financial Intelligence Centre Act (2001) and the Amendment Act 2017
  • Protection of Personal Information Act (2013)
  • South African taxation laws
  • The Corporations law
  • Financial services laws

If you are an actual or potential client, we may collect the following types of information about you depending on your stage in the customer journey:

  • identity data including title, first name, maiden name, last name, date of birth, gender, username, account number or similar identifier;
  • contact data including billing address, residential address, email address and telephone number;
  • information about your source of income and wealth including details about your assets and liabilities, account balances, trading statements, tax and financial statements, government-issued documentation, profession and employment details;
  • technical data including application software, internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website;
  • financial data including user id tokens from payment service providers, bank account details and payment card details;
  • profile data including your username and password, trading performance, transaction data, notes, your interests, preferences, customer feedback, survey responses, internet chats and telephone recordings;
  • usage data including information about how you use our website, products and services; and
  • marketing and communications data including your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

We obtain this information in a number of ways through your use of our services or other dealings with us including through any of our websites, apps, the account opening applications, telephone, internet chat systems, our demo sign up forms, webinar sign up forms and from information provided in the course of ongoing client service correspondence. We may also collect this information about you from third parties either through bought-in third party marketing lists, customer due diligence providers, sanctions screening providers, or publicly available sources.

We also keep records of your trading behaviour, including a record of:

  • suspicious transactions and orders
  • products you trade with us and their performance
  • your preference for certain types of products and services
  • historical data about the trades and investments you have made including the amount invested

We will use your Personal Information to provide you with products and services, or information about our products and services, and continuously review your ongoing needs once you open an account with us, or subscribe to information on our sites or applications.

We also collect, use and share statistical or demographic data for any purpose (“Aggregated Data”). Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your usage data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature.  Where we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with the law and this Privacy Policy.

We use cookies

Cookies are small pieces of text stored on your computer or device when you visit a website or an app. We use cookies on our websites and on our apps to provide you with a more relevant and effective experience, including presenting web pages according to your needs or preferences. For further information about cookies and how we use cookies, please refer to the cookie policy on our website.

Who we share your personal information with

As part of using your Personal Information for the purposes set out above, we may disclose your information to:

  • our affiliate companies as listed above;
  • third parties we use to help deliver our products and services to you, such as service providers, specialist advisers, administrative support, IT, financial, compliance, insurance, research etc.;
  • introducers, brokers, marketing agents and affiliates with whom we have a mutual relationship;
  • credit providers, courts, tribunals and applicable regulatory authorities as agreed or authorised by law or our agreement with you;
  • other third parties we use to help us run our business, e.g. marketing agencies or website hosts;
  • credit reporting or reference agencies;
  • crime prevention agencies; and
  • anyone authorised by you

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal information if we are satisfied, they take appropriate measures to protect your personal information. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to ensure they can only use your personal information to provide services to us and to you. We may also share personal information with external auditors, e.g. in relation to maintaining our accreditations or audit of our accounts etc.

We may disclose and exchange information with regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies to comply with our legal obligations and help prevent crime.

We may also need to share some personal information with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised, but this may not always be possible. The recipient of any such information will be bound by the same data privacy, confidentiality and security obligations.

Please note that the use of your Personal Information by external third parties who act as data controllers of your Personal Information is not covered by this policy and is not subject to our privacy standards and procedures.

How and why we use your personal information

We can only use your personal information if we have a legal reason for doing so, such as:

  • to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
  • for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
  • for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
  • where you have given consent.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.

The table below explains what we use your personal information for and our reasons for doing so:

  What we use your personal information for     Our reasons  
•    To provide products, services and support to you. For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.
•    To prevent and detect crime against you and members of the public. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, such as to minimise fraud that could be damaging for us and for you.
•    Conducting checks to identify our customers and verify their identity. •    Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes. •    Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal obligations that apply to our business, e.g. under financial service regulation issued by our professional regulator. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
•    Gathering and providing information or evidence relating to audits, enquiries, legal claims, complaints or investigations by regulatory bodies. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. For our legitimate interests to defend ourselves and relevant third parties from legal claims.
•    Ensuring internal business policies are adhered to, e.g. policies covering data retention or security. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you.
•    Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price.
•    Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to protect trade secrets and other commercially valuable information. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
•    Statistical analysis to help us manage our business, e.g. in relation to our financial performance, customer base, product range or other efficiency measures. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price.
•    Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for you. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
•    Updating and enhancing customer records. For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. making sure that we can keep in touch with our customers about existing orders and new products.
•    Statutory returns. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
•    Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you.
•    Marketing our services and those of our affiliates or selected third parties to: –        existing and former customers; –        third parties who have expressed an interest in our services; For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to promote our business to existing and former customers.
•    Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to ensure our customers are likely to be able to pay for our products and services
•    External audits and quality checks, e.g. maintain our accreditation and the audit of our accounts For our legitimate interests or a those of a third party, i.e. to maintain our accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

The above table does not apply to special category personal information, which we will only process with your explicit consent.

Promotional communications

We may use your personal information to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about our products and services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new products and services.

We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal information for promotional purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal information’). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you promotional communications. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.

We will always treat your personal information with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organisations outside our affiliates for marketing purposes. Whenever we rely on your consent as our legal basis for processing your Personal Information, you have the right to withdraw that consent or opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:

  • contacting us via your usual means of communication or use the contact details below
  • using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails
  • send ‘STOP’ in response to any texts

We will usually ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences: when we contact you, if you request information on our products and services or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose, permissible by law and is in accordance with this policy.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so. Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with a regulatory obligation or permitted by law. 

Management of personal information

Information may be held at our offices and those of our affiliate companies, third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see above: ‘Who we share your personal information with’).

To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to transfer your personal information overseas, such as:

  • with our affiliates based outside South Africa;
  • with your and our service providers located outside South Africa;
  • if you are based outside South Africa;

We will, however, ensure that any such transfer complies with the Protection of Personal Information Act 2013, and that such transfer maintains the confidentiality, integrity, availability and security of Personal Information. Our standard practice is to use standard data protection contract clauses that have been approved by relevant regulatory or supervisory authority if applicable.

How long your personal information will be kept

We will keep your personal information while you have an account with us, or we are providing information, products or services to you. Thereafter, we will keep your personal information for as long as is necessary:

  • to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
  • to show that we have acted in accordance with the law; and
  • to keep records as required by law.

We will not retain your Personal Information for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of personal information and when it is no longer necessary to retain your personal information, we will delete or anonymise it.

If you fail to provide personal information

Where we need to collect personal data by law, under the terms of a contract we have with you or are trying to enter into with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or in limited circumstances may only be able to provide a restricted service. In most cases, we may have to cancel the product or service you have with us, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

Your rights

You have the following rights:

  Rights   Explanation
· Access The right to ask us to provide you with a copy of your personal information.
· Rectification The right to ask us to correct or update any mistakes or out-of-date personal information that we hold on you.
· To be forgotten The right to ask us to delete your personal information; we will erase your information if there are no applicable laws or regulations barring us from doing so.
· Restriction of processing The right to ask u to restrict processing of your personal information—in certain circumstances, e.g. if you contest the accuracy of the data
· Data portability The right to receive the personal information you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations
· To object The right to object: –        at any time to your personal information being processed for direct marketing (including profiling); –        in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information, e.g. processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests.
· Not to be subject to automated individual decision-making The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.

You can exercise these rights free of charge by contacting our customer service team using the contact details listed in this policy (see below: ‘How to contact us’). If we have shared your Personal Information with third parties, we will inform them of your request to ensure that your data privacy rights are upheld by them.

Please note that we reserve the right to charge the administrative cost of providing you with the requested information in situations where your request is excessive or unfounded, for instance where your request is repetitive, or you require multiple copies.

Keeping your personal information secure

 Safeguarding the privacy of your information is important to us, whether you interact with us personally, telephone, e-mail, post, over the internet or by any other electronic medium. As required by data protection law, we follow strict security procedures and protocols in connection with the storage, processing and disclosure of your information, to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected or actual data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Where we share your information with a third party (which we will only do in accordance with this Privacy Policy), we will ensure that the security measures employed by any such third party in relation to the storage and processing of your information are at least as rigorous as those employed by us. We continually test our systems follow best practice industry standards for information security.

Technology improvements and third party sites

We are constantly striving to improve functionality on this site through technology changes and this may mean a change to the way in which Personal Information is collected or used. We will update this policy as necessary to inform you of any technology changes that affect your privacy rights.

Whilst we take appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard the personal information that you provide to us, we accept no liability if communications are intercepted by third parties or incorrectly delivered or not delivered from you to us.  Where possible, we recommend transferring information directly to us using the functionality provided.

Our websites may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. Our privacy policy applies only to the personal information that we collect through this website and we cannot be responsible for personal information that third parties may collect, store and use through other websites. You should always read the privacy policy of each website you visit to understand how its use may impact you.

How to contact us

If you have a concern about any aspect of our privacy practices, have questions or wish to make a complaint, please contact us by: phone on +27 086 011 1563, email at [email protected] or mail at Blackstone Futures, The Mall Offices, 5th Floor, 11 Craddock Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa.

You have the right to make a complaint at any time if you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you contact the Information Regulator (South Africa) by: phone on +27 012 406 4818, email at [email protected], mail at The Information Regulator (South Africa), SALU Building, 316 Thabo Sehume Street, Pretoria, South Africa or visiting the Information Regulator’s website on  http://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/index.html. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the Information Regulator so please contact us in the first instance.

 Policy review and changes

This website privacy policy was last updated on the 29th June 2021.

Our privacy policy will be reviewed from time to time to take account any new obligations, technological advancements, changes to our operations or practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing regulatory landscape.

We may change this privacy policy from time to time, when we do, we will inform you through your chosen or usual method of communication, including via email or highlighted banners on our website.