Privacy Statement

Privacy Statement

Purpose of this notice

This privacy notice explains how Sterling and Law Group plc collects and uses your personal information when you use our services. We are committed to protecting your personal information and managing it in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The Personal Data We Collect

To provide financial advice and related services, we may collect:

• Identity data — name, date of birth, national insurance number, identification documents.
• Contact details — address, email, telephone numbers.
• Financial information — income, expenditure, assets, liabilities, tax status, bank details.
• Lifestyle and objectives — retirement goals, risk preferences, investment objectives.
• Special category data — health information where relevant to insurance or pension advice (processed only with your consent).
• Technical data — IP address, browser type, website usage analytics.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We process your data for the following purposes:

• Providing regulated financial advice and related services.
• Assessing your needs and making suitable recommendations.
• Meeting our legal and regulatory obligations, including anti-money laundering checks, fraud prevention, and FCA reporting.
• Managing our relationship with you, including communications and service updates.
• Improving our website and services through analytics.
• Maintaining accurate records for audit, compliance, and risk management.

What do we do with the information?

• We will only use your information if we have your permission, or we have another legal reason for using it. This includes meeting our compliance obligations and to comply with laws and regulations.

The lawful reasons we use your data include:

• If we have your consent, our legitimate interests, legal obligation, to perform our contract with you or if it is in the public interest.
• To find out more about the lawful bases for processing your data please visit ico.org.uk

During our relationship with you we may use automated systems and technology including artificial intelligence (AI). For example, when we help you apply for a mortgage or credit agreement online. Before our third-party product providers make a decision, they may automatically score the information provided, any information we already hold about you, and any information we may get from other sources.

You may withdraw consent at any time.

Marketing

We may contact you with information about our services where permitted.  You can opt out of these communications at any time.

Tracking or recording your actions

To help keep you and your money safe, we may store details of your interactions with us. We may also record conversations and meetings that you have with us, powered by AI transcription.

Sharing Your Information

We may share your data with trusted third parties where necessary, including:

• Product providers, investment platforms, and insurers.
• Compliance consultants, auditors, and professional advisers.
• Credit reference agencies and identity verification services.
• IT providers, secure cloud storage, and website analytics tools.
• Regulators such as the FCA, HMRC, or the Financial Ombudsman Service when required.

We never sell your data. All third parties are required to maintain confidentiality and comply with data protection law.

Special category data

In certain circumstances, we may need to process special category or criminal conviction data. This may include:

• Health or lifestyle information relevant to assessing vulnerability, capacity for loss or the suitability of investment advice
• Criminal conviction/offence information where required for financial crime prevention, regulatory compliance or legal obligations
• Information relating to vulnerability, capacity for loss, mental or physical health or other factors essential to ensuring appropriate recommendations

We only process this type of data where it is necessary, lawful, and proportionate, and where required for:

• Meeting regulatory obligations
• Providing suitable financial advice
• Supporting clients
• Preventing financial crime
• Establishing, exercising, or defending legal claims

International transfers of data

If any service providers process data outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data.

How we keep your information safe

We are committed to collecting and using data fairly and in accordance with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We maintain internal policies and safeguards to protect your information which we  review regularly.

How long we keep your information

To meet our legal and regulatory obligations, we hold your information while you are a client and for a period of time after that. We do not hold it for longer than necessary.

Your rights

You have a number of rights to the information that we hold about you including: 

1. You can access the information that we hold about you and ask that we rectify it if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
2. You can object to our processing of your information, or you can ask us to limit the way we use your personal data. 
3. You can ask us to delete your information or in some circumstances you can withdraw your permission for us to use your information.

Sometimes we may be able to continue to process your information and/or refuse your request if we have another legitimate reason for doing so.

1. You can ask for certain information that you have provided to be sent to a third party.
2. You can complain to the  Information Commissioner’s Office  if you believe that we have not complied with the requirements of the UK GDPR with regard to your personal data. 

Updates to this privacy policy

We may update this statement from time to time, particularly when we change how we use your information and change our technology and products.

How to contact us

Sterling & Law Group plc is the Controller and Processor of Data for the purposes of the UK GDPR.

If you need support or have any concerns as to how your data is processed, you can contact:

The Data Protection Officer

Sterling & Law Group plc,

1 Royal Exchange,

 London,

EC3V 3DG

info@sterlingandlaw.com

020 3740 5856

If you remain unhappy, you can raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).