-
Menu
- ABOUT SBR
BNK Research LLC (“BNK,” “us,” or “we”) recognizes that the privacy and security of your Personal Information (as defined more fully below) is important to you.
This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) discloses the privacy practices of BNK for the SaferBankingResearch.com website and any other website affiliated with SaferBankingResearch that links to this Site (each, the “Site”) and related Subscription Services we may offer to you (“Services”). It also addresses how we use, manage and protect Personal Information and other information that we receive or collect about you. Please read the information below carefully.
You acknowledge that this Privacy Policy is intended to be read in conjunction with the BNK Terms and Conditions, and that by accessing or using the Site or our Services, you agree to be bound by the BNK Terms and Conditions and agree with and accept this Privacy Policy, and any amendments thereto.
IMPORTANT: BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE AND/OR OUR SERVICES, YOU CONSENT AND AGREE TO THE PRIVACY PRACTICES OF BNK AND THE OTHER TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY AND LIABILITY DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATIONS AND OTHER TERMS ON OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS PAGE, AND YOU AGREE THAT ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU SUBMIT TO US OR WHICH WE COLLECT FROM YOU THROUGH YOUR USE OF THIS SITE OR THE SERVICES MAY BE PROCESSED BY US IN THE MANNER AND FOR THE PURPOSES DESCRIBED HEREIN. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS SITE OR OUR SERVICES IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE FOREGOING.
SPECIAL MESSAGE TO PERSONS IN THE EU, SWITZERLAND, THE UK, AND ELSEWHERE OUTSIDE THE U.S.:
• OUR SERVERS AND DATABASES ARE LOCATED IN THE UNITED STATES. REGARDLESS OF THE COUNTRY IN WHICH YOU RESIDE OR FROM WHICH YOU ACCESS THIS SITE, BY SENDING US YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION, USING OUR SITE OR SERVICES OR CREATING USER CONTENT, YOU CONSENT TO THE TRANSFER TO, PROCESSING, AND STORAGE BY BNK OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND USER CONTENT IN THE UNITED STATES AS NECESSARY TO PROVIDE OUR SERVICES AND AS STATED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY
• We recognize that individuals (“data subjects”) subject to the protections of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”)1 have specific rights provided by the GDPR related to their Personal Information, including, subject to certain exceptions: (1) the right to be informed regarding the collection and use of your personal information; (2) the right of access; (3) the right to correction; (4) the right to erasure; (5) the right to restrict processing; (5) the right to data portability; (6) the right to object; and (7) rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling2. If you are an individual “data subject” subject to the protections of the GDPR and would like to assert those rights with regard to your Personal Information processed by BNK, you may contact us at privacy@saferbankingresearch.com. We will respond to your inquiry within 30 days.
Children’s Privacy
This Site is not targeted toward, and we do not seek or desire to collect information from, persons under the age of 21. We will not knowingly request information from persons under such age. You agree not to provide any Personal Information to us related to any person under the age of 21.
Types of Information We Collect
In order to better provide you with the various features and functions of our Site and our Services, we collect the following types of information about our users:
• Personal Information3: This refers to information that lets us know the specifics of who you are, sometimes referred to as personally identifiable information. When you engage in certain activities on this Site, such as registering for an account, downloading content made available to you, purchasing or subscribing to our Services, submitting content and/or posting content to a forum or blog (subject to the “Blog or Forum Posts” below), or sending feedback, we may ask you to provide certain information about yourself. Examples of Personal Information, include, but are not limited to, your first and last name, email address, mailing address (including zip code), telephone/facsimile numbers, and other identifying information, including the credit card number we may ask you to provide when you establish an account or subscribe to our Services.
• Aggregate Information: This refers to information that does not by itself identify a specific individual. We gather certain information about you based upon where you visit on our Site and what other sites may have directed you to us. This information, which is collected in a variety of different ways, is compiled and analyzed on both a personal and an aggregated basis. This information may include a website’s Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) that points to the website you came from, which URL you go to after visiting our Site, what browser you are using, and your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address.
How We Collect and Use Information
We do not collect any Personal Information about you unless you voluntarily provide it to us. However, you may be required to provide certain Personal Information to us when you elect to use certain Services available on the Site. These may include: (a) registering for an account; (b) entering a sweepstakes or contest sponsored by us or one of our partners; (c) signing up for special offers from selected third parties; (d) sending us an email message; (e) submitting a form or transmitting other information by telephone or letter; or (e) submitting your credit card or other payment information when ordering and purchasing Services. When processing certain information, such as payment information with affiliated banking institutions or payment processors, we encrypt the transaction, using Secure Socket Layer (“SSL”) encryption technology, in order to help prevent your Personal Information from being stolen or intercepted. Additionally, your credit card information is encrypted and stored on a restricted-access database and only accessible by authorized personnel.
We will primarily use your Personal Information to provide Services to you. We will also use certain forms of Personal Information to enhance the operation of our Site, improve internal marketing and promotional efforts, statistically analyze Site use, improve our Services, and customize the Site’s content, layout, and services. We may use Personal Information (e.g., your email address) to deliver information to you and to contact you regarding your account and other matters. We may also use your Personal Information to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, and enforce our agreements with you, including, but not limited to, our Terms and Conditions and this Privacy Policy.
BNK or its advertising partners (“Advertising Partners”) may collect certain Aggregate Information. For example, we may use your IP address to diagnose problems with our servers, software or hardware, and/or to gather demographic information. Our Advertising Partners may also provide us with aggregate, but not individual, reports that will tell us how many advertisements were presented and clicked upon at our Site.
Cookies
Depending on how you use our Site, we may store cookies on your computer in order to collect certain aggregate data about you and to customize certain aspects of your user experience. A cookie is a small data text file stored on your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. Cookies may also include more personalized information, such as your IP address, browser type, the server your computer is logged onto, the area code and zip code associated with your server, and your first name to welcome you back to our Site. We may use cookies to perform tasks such as: monitoring aggregate site usage metrics, storing and remembering your passwords (if you allow us to do so), storing account and advertising preferences that you have set, and personalizing the Services we make available to you.
Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some aspects of the Site may not function properly if you elect to disable cookies.
Most popular Internet browsers (e.g., Edge, Firefox, Safari, Chrome) offer a “do not track” feature which, if activated by the user, sends a signal to the website that the user does not want his or her activities on the website to be tracked. As of the date of this Privacy Policy, an industry-wide standard for “do not track” technologies does not exist. Accordingly, BNK cannot guarantee that the technology underlying its Website will recognize or respond to users’ “do not track” signals. However, BNK does not use cookies or other means to track your browsing behaviors other than in aggregate form, as described above, and not including any Personal Information.
Release of Information
We will not sell, trade, or rent your Personal Information to others. We do provide some of our Services through contractual arrangements made with affiliates, service providers, partners and other third parties (collectively “Service Partners”). We and our Advertising Partners or Service Partners may need to use some Personal Information in order to perform tasks between our respective websites, or to deliver Services to you. For example, we must release your credit card information to the card-issuing bank to confirm payment for Services purchased on this Site; release your address information to the delivery service to send any products you may order; and provide order information to third parties that help us provide customer service.
The use of your Personal Information by our Service Partners is governed by their respective privacy policies and by their contractual obligations to BNK. We obligate our Service Partners to protect your Personal Information that we provide to them in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy. However, when you leave our Site or Service and visit another website or log in to that site’s service, you will be subject to the privacy policies and data collection, use and disclosure practices and other terms and conditions of the operators of that site, over which BNK has no practical control. Except as otherwise stated herein, this Privacy Policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information BNK collects from you or which you provide to us.
Occasionally, we may be required by law enforcement or judicial order to provide Personal Information to the appropriate governmental authorities. In such cases, we will disclose Personal Information upon receipt of a court order, subpoena, or to cooperate with a law enforcement investigation. We fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies in identifying those who use our Services for illegal activities. We reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we, in good faith, believe to be unlawful. Please see the “Compliance with Legal Requirements and Corporate Transactions” below.
We may also provide Aggregate Information about our customers’ sales, traffic patterns, and related Site information to third party advertisers, but these statistics do not include any Personal Information.
Updating and Correcting Information
You have the ability to access and edit the Personal Information that you have provided us. You may change any of your Personal Information in your account online at any in accordance with instructions posted elsewhere on this Site. You may also access and correct your Personal Information and privacy preferences by emailing or writing to us. Please see the “Contacting BNK/SaferBankingResearch” section below:
We encourage you to promptly update your Personal Information if it changes. You may ask to have the information on your account deleted or removed. However, some information, such as past transactions, logs of technical support calls, or other information may not be deleted. In addition, if you wish to remain a subscriber to our Services, we will need to retain those elements of your Personal Information necessary to support an active account, such as contact information and financial and payment information (e.g., credit card). Under any circumstances, as is the case with virtually all information stored in digital form, it may be impossible to completely delete your information without some residual information retained in data backups.
User Choices on Collection and Use of Information
We may, from time to time, contact you by phone, email, or text message, regarding offers or information concerning products or services that may be of interest to you, whether offered by us, our affiliates or our business partners. Only BNK, its affiliates or their respective personnel or agents working on their behalf, will send you the offers or information, and only if you have previously indicated that you wish to receive them. If after opting in you do not want to continue to receive offers or information from us, you can “opt-out” by accessing and editing your account online.
In addition, you have options with respect to cookies as described above. Most browsers allow you to set cookie preferences, such as electing to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set, or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject all cookies some parts of the Site may not work properly.
Security of Your Personal Information
BNK takes reasonable steps to protect your personal data against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organizational measures. For example:
• We work hard to ensure that the data we collect is reliable, accurate, complete and current. The elements of our Site and Services which permit the communication of Personal Information provide for encrypted transmission of such information.
• We limit access to Personal Information only to specifically authorized employees, contractors and agents who have a reasonable need to access it. For example, we may provide members of our technical support team with limited access to your account in order to allow them to troubleshoot problems you may be having with the Site or our Services. These individuals are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including, but not limited to, termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations.
• Additionally, we also employ a number of physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect Personal Information. Our servers and datacenters are protected by industry-standard encryption, and our servers reside behind firewalls and employ high-level password protection.
• Finally, we allow you to access all of your Personal Information (for additional security, we display to you only the last four digits of your credit card information), through a unique password and customer ID selected by you. These log-in credentials are encrypted during transmission and at rest. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone (you are responsible for all activity that occurs under your customer ID and password).
In order to most effectively serve you, credit card transactions and order fulfillment are handled by established third-party banking institutions and processing agents (e.g., PayPal). They receive the information needed to verify and authorize your credit card or other payment information and to process and ship your order. Use of these third party services will be governed by their posted terms and conditions and privacy policies.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your Personal Information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations inherent to the Internet, which are beyond our control; and (b) the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information exchanged between you and us through this Site cannot be guaranteed.
Data Retention
Except to the extent prohibited by law, and subject to this Privacy Policy and the Site’s Terms and Conditions, if you are a subscriber to our Services, we will retain and use your Personal Information for as long as your account is active, as needed to provide you the Services, to document our business relationship with you, and as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. If you are a subscriber and wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your Personal Information to provide you our Services, please contact us at support@saferbankingresearch.com and as otherwise provided in the Site’s Terms and Conditions. If you are not a subscriber to our Services, we will retain your Personal Information for as long as we deem necessary for legitimate business purposes, subject to your contrary instructions provided to us in writing. Personal Information no longer retained by BNK will be disposed of or destroyed in a reasonable manner intended to prevent loss, theft, misuse, or unauthorized access.
Sensitive Personal Information
We have no need for any sensitive Personal Information from you in order to provide our Service, and we take no steps to collect it. Sensitive Personal Information means data consisting of racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person's sex life or sexual orientation. You agree not to provide any sensitive Personal Information to us.
Compliance with Legal Requirements and Corporate Transactions
In addition to our rights stated elsewhere in this Privacy Policy and notwithstanding anything to the contrary stated herein, BNK reserves the right to disclose your Personal Information as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (b) to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence, for national security and/or law enforcement purposes; (d) to enforce our Site’s Terms and Conditions; and (e) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain. Additionally, in the event of a reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings), we may transfer the Personal Information we have collected to the relevant third party.
Blog or Forum Posts
You should be aware that when you voluntarily disclose or post Personal Information (e.g., name, age, mailing address, or email address) in discussion forums or blogs or other areas of our Services which are by their nature accessible by other users, that information, along with any information disclosed in your communication, can be collected and used by third parties in ways that are beyond the control of BNK. While our Site’s Terms and Conditions govern the activities of all users of our Service, BNK is not responsible for what those other users may do with the information you voluntarily post, and this Privacy Policy does not apply to such information. Please consult our Site’sTerms and Conditions for our Site Conduct policies.
To request removal of your Personal Information or postings from our blog or discussion forums, please contact us as described in the “Contact BNK/SaferBankingResearch” section below. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your Personal Information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat Personal Information by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your account, by placing a prominent notice on the Site, and/or by updating this Privacy Policy as posted on the Site. Your continued use of the Site, and/or our Services available through this Site after such modifications, will constitute your acceptance of the modified Privacy Policy. The preceding paragraph shall take precedence over Section 14.9 (Entire Agreement) of the Site’s Terms and Conditions or any other term having a similar intent or effect.
Contact BNK/SaferBankingResearch
If you have any questions, concerns or inquiries about our Privacy Policy, or any aspect of our use of your Personal Information, please contact us at: privacy@saferbankingresearch.com. You can also reach our Privacy Compliance Officer by sending written correspondence to:
A Publication of BNK Research LLC
3470 Olney Laytonsville Rd., Suite 226
Olney, MD 20832
Attn: Privacy Compliance Officer
Email: privacy@saferbankingresearch.com
Please include your name, address, and/or email address when you contact us.
FOOTNOTES
(1) See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679&from=EN and https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en.
(2) See Articles 12-22, GDPR.
(3) If you are an individual “data subject” subject to the protections of the GDPR, the term “Personal Information,” as used in this Privacy Policy, shall mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, i.e., a “data subject,” which means an identifiable natural person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
