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South West Mutual promises to take great care with your personal data, and we commit to protecting any personal information we obtain about you.

This Privacy Policy sets out how and why we obtain, use and protect personal information and relates to information which is obtained by us and for which we are the Data Controller.

1. Who we are

South West Mutual Limited (‘SWM’) is registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 as a Co-operative Society number 4451. 

Our registered office is  Devonport Guildhall, Ker Street, Plymouth, PL1 4EL Tel: 01392 984004 

A co-operative society is a legal entity that is owned and controlled by its members. Members purchase shares in the society and may receive dividends. The liability for any losses incurred by the society is limited to the amount they paid for their shares. Each member has one vote regardless of the number of shares they own. Members can be either individuals or corporate bodies such as businesses and charities.

2. Our Mission

SWM’s mission is to promote sustainable and inclusive prosperity for the people of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset by providing honest, transparent, ethical and high-quality banking services to individuals, small businesses and other organisations in the region.

Central to this mission is our commitment to be transparent about the data we collect about you and how it is used and shared.

3.  Why we hold and process personal data 

We hold and process personal data for the following reasons:

· To keep a record of our members, supporters and newsletter subscribers and communications we have with them including attendance at SWM events.

· To keep a register of shareholders.

· To send our members, supporters and newsletter subscribers marketing information about our activities where we have their consent or are otherwise allowed to.

· To make offers of membership, or invite people or organisations to become supporters, to those who have expressed an interest.

· To fulfil contractual obligations entered into with members and funders.

· To meet wider legal obligations such as those of regulators and our reporting duties to the Financial Conduct Authority Mutuals Public Register.

4. Your consent and notices of changes

If you engage with SWM including through our website, you consent to the collection, use and sharing of your personal data under this Privacy Policy (which includes our Cookie Policy and any other documents referenced in this Privacy Policy). We provide you with choices that allow you to opt-out or control how we use and share your data.

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to SWM. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use SWM website to submit personal information to SWM. If material changes are made to the Privacy Policy we will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the website.

5. Information we collect and how long we keep it

All members and supporters of SWM are asked to give their name, date of birth, gender identity, email address, postal address, contact numbers and the criteria under which they qualify as a resident of the region.

Subscribers to our newsletters are asked to give their email address and postcode.

We do not collect personal data from visitors to our website.

Data retention

We keep data for three years for supporters and other contacts and seven years for members. 

We retain members’ personal data for seven years after ceasing to be a member, and supporters’ data for three years after ceasing to be a supporter. We do not retain data of newsletter subscribers after they have cancelled their subscription.

We retain data to comply with legal obligations (including law enforcement requests), meet our regulatory and financial requirements, resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse.

6. How we share information

We do not share our data with third parties unless compelled to do so by law, or in a strictly controlled way to certain Service Providers working on our behalf set out below.

Legal disclosures

It is possible that we will need to disclose information about you when required by law, warrant, or other legal process or if we have a good faith belief that disclosure is reasonably necessary to (1) investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities or to assist government enforcement agencies; (2) enforce our agreements with you, (3) investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, (4) protect the security or integrity of our Service (such as by sharing with companies facing similar threats); or (5) exercise or protect the rights and safety of SWM.

Service providers

We procure business services from others including hosting our website. They will have access to your information as reasonably necessary to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for other purposes.

7. Your control over your data

You can access or delete your personal data by getting in touch with our Data Protection Officer. If you would like more information, have any questions about this policy, would like to make a formal complaint about SWM’s approach to data protection or raise privacy concerns please contact:

Data Protection Officer, South West Mutual,  Devonport Guildhall, Ker Street, Plymouth, PL1 4EL Tel: 01392 984004 

Email: data.protection@southwestmutual.co.uk

You also have the right to make a complaint direct to the UK's data protection authority, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO can be contacted at: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

Concerns can also be logged via the ICO website.

8. Email Disclaimer

The information in any e-mail (and/or document attached) sent by or on behalf of SWM is confidential and may be legally privileged and/or contain copyright material of SWM. This information is intended solely for the use of the named addressee. If you are not the named addressee of an email from SWM, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose, copy or distribute the contents to any other person. 

Any contractual representations contained therein on behalf of SWM must not be taken as final, and are entirely subject to contracts signed formally by an authorised representative of this organisation.

Whilst SWM takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that e-mails from the SWM are virus free, no responsibility will be taken for viruses transmitted from its systems.