We need to collect personal or other information if we are to meet our obligations to you, to follow your instructions, to inform you of new services and to ensure that our business is geared towards your needs.

We gather and analyse information on our visitors routine use of this website. We use this information to monitor which areas of the website are most frequently visited, to assist us to continue developing a value-added service. This information is pooled so individual personal information, behaviour or patterns cannot be identified.

On some parts of our website we use so-called "cookie" technology. Cookie technology consists of small pieces of data or a small text file which is given to your browser by our webserver when you visit our website. This data is stored on your browser. The cookie is sent back to our webserver each time you visit our website. Cookies are not computer programs and do not run on a computer like programs do. They cannot gather information or function on their own. They cannot collect any personal information about you or your machine and cannot gather data or information about what you do on the Internet. Cookies merely enable us to provide a more valuable online experience to you. While you can set up your Internet browser to disable cookie technology, we do not recommend that you do this since some parts of this website and our online services may not function properly, or at all.

Provided that you have agreed to this, we may use your personal or other information to send you information on new services or products that may be of interest to you and from time to time will mail, email or SMS information to you about us, our products and services, or our partners and their products or services. If you do not wish to continue receiving this information you may contact us and we will remove you from our mailing list.

Whenever we commission other organisations to provide support services to us, we will bind them to our privacy policies as far as they may be required to have access to our customers personal information to perform such services.

Our website may contain links to or from other sites. While we try to link only to sites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content or the security or privacy practices employed by other sites. We recommend that you always read the privacy and security statements on such sites.

We will not disclose personal information to anyone outside the bank without your permission unless:

* we are compelled to do so by law or in terms of a court order

* it is in the public interest to do so

* it is necessary to protect our rights.

Personal information we collect via the website is stored in a secure environment and is not available to any person outside the bank.

We are committed to providing secure online services. As such, all interactions with our transactional sites are protected through encryption that complies with international standards. Encryption is used to protect the transmission of your personal information when completing online application forms. Our Internet servers are protected by firewalls and intrusion detection systems. Access to information on these servers is restricted to authorized personnel only.

We have also employed the services of independent security experts to test and advise us on the security of our systems.

To ensure that you benefit from our security you should read the security tips we post on our site from time to time.

Different online services and Standard Bank entities may have their own privacy and security policies because the nature of their service or products demand a deviation from our general policy. These specific policies will apply to and exclusively govern your use of the particular online service.

We reserve the right to amend this privacy and security statement at any time. All amendments to this privacy and security statement will be posted on the website. Unless otherwise stated, the current version shall supersede and replace all previous versions of this privacy and security statement.

If you have any questions about this privacy and security statement please email us on [email protected].