One of the most critical responsibilities of the Bank is to ensure that information relating to our customers' business affairs remains confidential at all times, thus maintaining the trust placed in us by our customers. Confidentiality applies to information obtained from the points of contact with customers or other sources of the Bank. All such information shall only be used for the purpose for which it is intended, and must not be used for the personal benefit of any individual.
Confidential information includes not only information received from a customer, but also information about a customer’s identity and transactions, and other banking details, including custody or dealing accounts; our internal credit assessments; or any other customer information held by the Bank. This confidentiality also applies to confidential information relating to the Bank and the Bank’s intellectual property.
The Bank believes in protecting the privacy of customer information. All employees of the Bank have a duty to safeguard confidential information obtained in the normal course of business. Respect for customers' private affairs merits the same care as does the protection of the Bank assets.
Employees shall avoid communicating confidential information, either in verbal or written form, through any public venue – including online social networks – in order to protect such information from outsiders. Any text messages, pictures, audio messages or information that could cause conflicts or discord within society, or may be unlawful, or may have a negative impact on the Bank reputation, our customers, other individuals, or groups shall be avoided.
Our duties towards confidentiality include not divulging information to third parties except under the following circumstances:
- Where the party concerned has been given prior written permission to do so.
- Where the Bank is legally compelled to do so.
- Where there is a duty to the public to disclose, as required by regulators.
- Where such disclosure is necessary to protect the Bank assets, without violation of the law, e.g., disclosures to law enforcement agencies in their investigations.
This duty of protecting the confidentiality of customers, counterparties and the Bank own information continues even after employees leave the Bank. Such employees shall not by any means infringe on the Bank’s intellectual property. In the case that an employee ceases to be employed by the Bank, any material or intellectual property developed by the employee during their tenure of employment with the Bank shall remain the property of the Bank. Such material shall not be used and disclosed by the former employee after they have left the Bank.