Privacy notice

Who we are

Channel Finance Group Limited is the data controller for the personal information described in this notice. We are a company registered in Scotland under number SC624197, with our registered office at Pavillion 1, The Approach, 291 Springhill Parkway, Glasgow Business Park, G69 6GA. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZA527036.

If you have any question about this notice or about how we handle your information, contact Noemaan Butt, Chief Corporate Finance and Legal Officer at noemaan@channelfinance.co.uk.

The information we collect

When you make an enquiry, we collect your name, contact details and the information you give us about the funding you are seeking, including the amount, the purpose and the asset or business it relates to.

If you go on to instruct us, we collect the information we need to prepare and place your case. Depending on the facility this may include your date of birth, nationality and residential address history, identification documents, financial statements, management accounts, bank statements, tax returns, details of assets, liabilities and existing borrowing, property and tenancy information, details of directors, shareholders and beneficial owners, and information about credit history including any adverse credit.

Where a transaction involves other individuals, such as fellow directors, shareholders, guarantors or joint applicants, we will hold their information on the same basis. If you provide us with information about another person, please make sure they know we hold it and direct them to this notice.

If you apply to us or register your interest in working with us, we collect your name, contact details, the information in your CV and anything else you choose to tell us.

If you visit our website, we collect technical and usage information as described in our Cookie Policy.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

We use your information to respond to your enquiry, to assess whether we can assist and to take steps at your request before entering into a contract with you. Our lawful basis is performance of a contract or taking steps at your request before entering into one, and our legitimate interests in operating a commercial finance brokerage.

We use it to prepare your case, to approach lenders on your behalf and to manage the transaction through to completion, including liaison with lenders, valuers, solicitors, accountants, insurers and other professional advisers involved in your matter. Our lawful basis is performance of a contract and our legitimate interests in arranging the finance you have asked us to arrange.

We use it to meet our legal and regulatory obligations. This includes customer due diligence and ongoing monitoring under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, record keeping under the Financial Conduct Authority’s rules, and the reporting obligations imposed on us by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Our lawful basis is compliance with a legal obligation, and in relation to the prevention of financial crime, substantial public interest.

We use it to prevent and detect fraud, including checks with credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in protecting our business, our clients and our lenders, and compliance with a legal obligation.

We use it to send you information about our services where you have asked us to or where you are an existing client and the information relates to services similar to those we have already provided. Our lawful basis is consent or our legitimate interests in marketing to existing clients. You can opt out at any time using the link in any email we send, or by contacting us.

We use recruitment information to assess your suitability for a role with us and to keep your details on file for future opportunities. Our lawful basis is taking steps at your request before entering into a contract and our legitimate interests in recruitment; where we keep your details on file after a specific role has been filled, our basis is consent.

Special category information

We do not generally need information about health, and we ask you not to send it to us unless it is relevant. Where a lender requires information of this kind, for example in connection with a life or protection requirement or where a borrower’s circumstances affect affordability, we will handle it on the basis of your explicit consent or because it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Who we share it with

We share your information with lenders and funders on our panel, for the purpose of obtaining terms and placing your case. We will tell you which lenders we are approaching.

We share it with the other parties to your transaction where necessary, including valuers, surveyors, solicitors, accountants, insurers and brokers acting for other parties.

We share it with credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies. Searches carried out at the quotation stage are usually recorded but do not affect your credit score; a search carried out when a formal application is submitted will be recorded and may be seen by other lenders.

We share it with our professional advisers, our auditors and our insurers, and with the service providers who support our business, including our customer relationship management system, our information technology and hosting providers, and our document and identification verification providers. These providers act on our instructions and are bound by written terms requiring them to keep your information secure and to use it only as we direct.

When you use a form on this site we use Google reCAPTCHA to protect it from spam and abuse. It checks how the page is being used, including your IP address and browser details, and sends that information to Google, which returns a score. We rely on our legitimate interest in keeping the site secure. Google’s use of the information is covered by its privacy policy.

We share it with the Financial Conduct Authority, the National Crime Agency, HM Revenue and Customs and other regulators, law enforcement bodies and courts where we are required to do so. Where we make a report under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 we are prohibited by law from telling you.

We do not sell your information to anyone.

Introducers

If you came to us through an introducer, such as an accountant, a solicitor or another broker, we will have received your details from them and we may confirm the progress and outcome of your case to them, including the fact that a facility completed and the fee or commission payable. We will not share the detail of your financial information with an introducer without your agreement.

Where your information is held

Your information is held within the United Kingdom.

Where any provider we use stores or accesses information outside the United Kingdom, we put in place the safeguards required by data protection law, which will usually be the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses. You can ask us for a copy of the safeguards we rely on.

How long we keep it

We keep enquiry information where the enquiry does not proceed for 12 months from your last contact with us, so that we can deal with any follow up and evidence how the enquiry was handled.

We keep client files for six years from the end of our relationship with you or from the completion or redemption of the facility, whichever is later. Where a complaint or claim is made, or where we reasonably consider one may be made, we keep the file until the matter is concluded and any appeal period has expired.

We keep customer due diligence records, including identification documents and the evidence supporting them, for five years from the end of the business relationship or the completion of the transaction, as required by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017.

We keep recruitment information for unsuccessful applicants for 12 months, and for candidates who ask to be kept on file for 24 months, after which we delete it unless you ask us to keep it for longer.

Automated decisions

We do not make decisions about you by automated means alone. Lenders to whom we submit your case may use automated systems to assess an application, including credit scoring. Where that happens, the lender is the controller for that decision and its own privacy notice will explain your rights, which include the right to ask for human intervention and to challenge the outcome.

Your rights

You have the right to ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you; to have inaccurate information corrected; to ask us to delete information where we no longer have a reason to keep it; to ask us to restrict how we use it while a question about it is resolved; to object to our using it where we rely on legitimate interests; to receive certain information in a portable format; and to withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on consent. These rights are qualified, and in particular we cannot delete information we are required by law to keep.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at noemaan@channelfinance.co.uk. We will respond within one month. There is no charge.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your information you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk, by telephone on 0303 123 1113, or by writing to Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. We would ask you to raise the matter with us first so that we have the opportunity to put it right.

Changes to this notice

We review this notice regularly and will post any change on this page. Where the change is significant we will tell you directly.