Privacy Policy & Practices of Commonwealth Financial Network®
Commonwealth Equity Services, Inc., dba Commonwealth Financial Network®, a dually registered investment adviser and broker/dealer, and its affiliate, CES Insurance, Inc. (collectively, “Commonwealth”), distribute a variety of financial products and services to you through their network of independent registered representatives, investment adviser representatives, and insurance agents (collectively, “advisors”). We have always valued the trust our customers have placed in us and are committed to the responsible management, use, and protection of our customers’ personal information. We are proud of our privacy and confidentiality practices, and we want you to know how we protect your information and use it to service your account(s).
Financial companies choose how they share your personal information. Federal law gives consumers the right to limit some, but not all, sharing. Federal law also requires us to tell you how we collect, share, and protect your personal information. Please read this notice carefully to understand what we do. If you deal with us through an independent Registered Investment Adviser, please also review your advisor’s related privacy policy.
Gathering information
Commonwealth collects personal information about you to help us serve your financial needs, process transactions in your account(s), provide customer service, offer new products or services, and fulfill legal and regulatory requirements.
Commonwealth collects nonpublic personal information from you, as well as from other sources. The sources and the information collected may include:
Information you provide to us, to our affiliated entities, or to your advisor on applications and related forms, through discussions with our customer service staff, or on our website, such as address, social security number, birth date, net worth, assets, income, and medical information, if applying for insurance
Information regarding your transaction history with us, such as products or services purchased, account balances, trading history, and payment history, as well as information from information service companies and consumer reporting agencies, such as your transactions or credit relationships with unaffiliated third parties
Information from other unaffiliated third parties, including employers, associations, benefit plan sponsors, and other institutions, if you transfer positions or funds to Commonwealth, such as address, social security number, net worth, assets, and income
Sharing information
We may disclose any of the nonpublic personal information that we collect about you, as required to conduct our business and as permitted or required by law. We may share information about our customers with our affiliated insurance company and/or with unaffiliated financial or nonfinancial services providers, such as insurance companies, broker/dealers, investment advisors, mutual fund companies, banks, investment firms, third-party administrators, clearing firms, retirement plan sponsors, and other third parties who assist us in obtaining business or providing account maintenance or customer service to your account(s). In addition, we may share some or all of the information we collect with other financial institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements. Furthermore, we also may share your information with auditors, regulators, and law enforcement organizations or in response to a subpoena or discovery request, as permitted or required by law.
We do not sell, share, or disclose your nonpublic personal information to unaffiliated third-party marketing companies.
If the advisor servicing your account(s) leaves Commonwealth to join another financial institution, the advisor may retain copies of your personal information so that he or she can continue to serve you at the new firm. In doing so, your advisor may share your information with the new firm but is otherwise required to keep confidential the personal information obtained from you while the advisor was affiliated with Commonwealth, and he or she may only use it to service your account(s).
Opting in
If you live in an “opt-in” state, where we are required to obtain your affirmative consent to share your nonpublic personal information with unaffiliated third parties who do not currently assist us in servicing your account or conducting our business, your advisor is required to obtain your consent before your advisor can take your information with him or her should your advisor leave Commonwealth. Please note: You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting the Compliance department at 800.251.0080, x9603. In addition, please see below for “Important Information for California and Vermont Residents.”
Opting out
If you do not want your advisor to take your information with him or her should your advisor decide to leave Commonwealth in the future, you have the right to opt out of such disclosure. If you have a joint account, we will treat an opt-out direction by a joint customer as applying to all associated joint customers. If you wish to opt out, now or at any time in the future, please contact our Compliance department by phone at 800.251.0080, x9603, or by mail at Commonwealth Financial Network, Attn: Privacy, 29 Sawyer Road, Waltham, MA 02453-3483.
Cookies
Cookies are very small files placed onto the hard drive of your computer the first time you visit our website that enable our server to recognize who you are the next time you come back. Contrary to popular belief, cookies do not extract private or personal information from your computer’s memory; rather, they record only information relating to your visit to our site. Commonwealth uses cookies to track usage of the website and to address security issues. We may also use cookies to store your preferences relating to use of our website. If you do not want to allow our website to place a cookie on your computer, you can change your browser’s settings to deny cookies; however, this may affect your experience with certain features of our website.
Safeguarding privacy
Commonwealth recognizes the need to prevent unauthorized access to the information we collect, including information held in electronic format. Commonwealth authorizes access to your nonpublic personal information only to parties with whom we have executed confidentiality/nondisclosure agreements and who need that information to serve you or to assist us in conducting our operations. We maintain physical, electronic, procedural, and contractual safeguards regarding your nonpublic personal information to ensure that we comply with our own policy, industry practices, and federal and state regulations. And we train our employees in the proper handling of sensitive information. If you decide to close your account(s) or become an inactive customer, we will adhere to the privacy policies and practices as described in this notice.
Questions
You do not have to contact us to benefit from Commonwealth’s privacy protections; they apply automatically to all of our customers and former customers. If you have any questions after reading this privacy policy, however, we encourage you to contact your advisor or to write to Privacy Management, c/o Legal Department, Commonwealth Financial Network, 29 Sawyer Road, Waltham, MA 02453-3483
Important information for California and Vermont residents
California residents: For accounts with a California mailing address, we will not share your personal information with a financial company for joint marketing purposes except as required or permitted by law.
Vermont residents: For accounts with a Vermont mailing address, we will not share your creditworthiness information with our affiliates except as required or permitted by law. For joint marketing with other financial companies, we will disclose only your name, contact information, and information about your transactions, unless otherwise required or permitted by law.
Securities are not FDIC- or NCUA-insured; not guaranteed by any bank, credit union, or government agency; and are subject to risk, including potential loss of principal invested.
Last Updated: April, 2011