Privacy policy

 

Version 20.2.2024

In this privacy policy, we, cumFides GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “we” or “us”), explain how we collect and otherwise process personal data. Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable person.

If you provide us with personal data of other persons (e.g. family members, data of work colleagues), please ensure that these persons are aware of this privacy policy and only provide us with their personal data if you are permitted to do so and if this personal data is correct.

This privacy policy is designed to meet the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the Swiss Data Protection Act (“DPA”). However, whether and to what extent these laws are applicable depends on the individual case.

The terms used are not gender-specific.

 

1. Responsible representative

cumFides GmbH, Fraumünsterstrasse 11, 8001 Zurich, is responsible for the data processing described here, unless otherwise stated in individual cases. If you have any data protection concerns, you can send them to the following contact address:

Postal address: Fraumünsterstrasse 11, 8001 Zurich
Email: info@cumfides.ch

2. Collection and processing of personal data

We primarily process the personal data that we receive from our customers and other business partners as part of our business relationship with them and other persons involved or that we collect from their users when operating our websites, apps and other applications. Insofar as this is permitted, we also obtain certain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. debt collection registers, land registers, commercial registers, press, Internet), from authorities and other third parties (such as credit agencies, address dealers).

In addition to the data that you provide to us directly, the categories of personal data that we receive about you from third parties include, in particular, information from public registers, information that we obtain in connection with official and legal proceedings, information in connection with your professional functions and activities (so that we can, for example, conclude and process transactions with your employer with your help), information about you in correspondence and meetings with third parties, credit information (insofar as we process transactions with you personally), information about you that people from your environment (family, advisors, legal representatives, etc.) give us so that we can conclude contracts with you.We may use this information to conclude or process contracts with you or with your involvement (e.g. references), your address for deliveries, powers of attorney, information on compliance with legal requirements such as anti-money laundering and export restrictions, information from banks, insurance companies and other contractual partners of yours, sales and other contractual partners of ours for the use or provision of services by you (e.g. payments made, purchases made), information from the media and the Internet about you (insofar as this is appropriate in the specific case, for example in the context of an application, press review, marketing/sales, etc.), your addresses and, if applicable, interests.), your addresses and possibly interests and other socio-demographic data (for marketing), data in connection with the use of the website (e.g. IP address, MAC address of the smartphone or computer, information about your device and settings, cookies, date and time of the visit, pages and content accessed, functions used, referring website, location data).

3. Purposes of data processing and legal bases

We use the personal data we collect primarily to conclude and process our contracts with our customers and business partners, in particular in the context of the following activities:

Fiduciary services

As part of this activity, we collect personal data for transactions with our customers and the purchase of products and services from our suppliers and subcontractors, as well as to comply with our legal obligations in Switzerland and abroad. If you work for such a customer or business partner, you may of course also be affected in this function with your personal data.

In addition, we also process personal data of you and other persons for the following purposes, where permitted and where we deem it appropriate, in which we (and sometimes third parties) have a legitimate interest corresponding to the purpose:

    • Offering and further developing our products, services and websites, apps and other platforms on which we are present;
    • Communication with third parties and processing their inquiries (e.g. applications, media inquiries);
    • Examination and optimization of procedures for needs analysis for the purpose of direct customer contact and collection of personal data from publicly accessible sources for the purpose of customer acquisition;
    • Advertising and marketing (including the organization of events), provided you have not objected to the use of your data (if we send you advertising as an existing customer, you can object to this at any time and we will put you on a blacklist against further advertising mailings);
    • Assertion of legal claims and defense in connection with legal disputes and official proceedings;
    • Prevention and investigation of criminal offenses and other misconduct (for example, conducting internal investigations, data analysis to combat fraud);
    • Guarantees of our operations, in particular IT, our websites, apps and other platforms;
    • Purchase and sale of business divisions, companies or parts of companies and other transactions under company law and the associated transfer of personal data as well as measures for business management and compliance with legal and regulatory obligations and internal regulations of cumFides GmbH.

If you have given us your consent to process your personal data for specific purposes (for example, when you register to receive newsletters or carry out a background check), we will process your personal data within the scope of and based on this consent, unless we have another legal basis and require one. Consent that has been given can be revoked at any time, but this has no effect on data processing that has already taken place.

4. Cookies/tracking and other technologies in connection with the use of our website

We typically use “cookies” and similar technologies on our websites and apps to identify your browser or device. A cookie is a small file that is sent to your computer or automatically stored on your computer or mobile device by the web browser you use when you visit our website or install our apps. If you visit this website again or use our app, we will be able to recognize you, even if we do not know who you are. In addition to cookies that are only used during a session and are deleted after your visit to the website (“session cookies”), cookies can also be used to store user settings and other information for a certain period of time (e.g. two years) (“permanent cookies”). However, you can set your browser so that it rejects cookies, only stores them for one session or otherwise deletes them prematurely. Most browsers are preset to accept cookies. We use permanent cookies to save your user settings (e.g. language, autologin) so that we can better understand how you use our offers and content, and so that we can show you offers and advertising tailored to you (which can also happen on websites of other companies; however, we will not tell them who you are, if we know this at all, because they will only see that the same user is on their website who was also on a certain page on our website). Some of the cookies are set by us, some are also set by contractual partners with whom we work.

If you block cookies, certain functionalities (such as language selection, shopping cart, ordering processes) may no longer work.

We sometimes use Google Analytics or similar services on our websites. This is a service provided by third parties, which may be located in any country in the world (in the case of Google Analytics, it is Google Ireland (based in Ireland), Google Ireland relies on Google LLC (based in the USA) as a processor (both “Google”, www.google.com), with which we can measure and evaluate the use of the website (not personalized). Permanent cookies set by the service provider are also used for this purpose. We have configured the service so that the IP addresses of visitors are shortened by Google in Europe before being forwarded to the USA and therefore cannot be traced back. We have switched off the “Data transfer” and “Signals” settings. Although we can assume that the information we share with Google is not personal data for Google, it is possible that Google can use this data for its own purposes to draw conclusions about the identity of visitors, create personal profiles and link this data to the Google accounts of these persons. If you have registered with the service provider yourself, the service provider also knows you. The processing of your personal data by the service provider is then the responsibility of the service provider in accordance with its data protection provisions. The service provider only informs us how our respective website is used (no information about you personally).

We also use plug-ins from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Xing, LinkedIn and Instagram on our websites. You can see this in each case (typically via corresponding symbols). We have configured these elements so that they are deactivated by default. If you activate them (by clicking on them), the operators of the respective social networks can register that you are on our website and where and can use this information for their purposes. The processing of your personal data will then be the responsibility of this operator in accordance with its data protection provisions. We do not receive any information about you from him.

5. Data transfer to third parties

In the course of our business activities and for the purposes set out in para. 3, to the extent permitted and deemed appropriate by us, to third parties, either because they process them for us or because they wish to use them for their own purposes. This relates in particular to the following positions:

    • Service providers of ours (such as banks, insurance companies), including contract processors (such as IT providers);
    • Dealers, suppliers, subcontractors and other business partners;
    • Customers;
    • domestic and foreign authorities, official bodies or courts;
    • Media;
    • the public, including visitors to websites and social media;
    • Competitors, industry organizations, associations, organizations and other bodies;
    • Acquirers or parties interested in acquiring business units;
    • other parties in potential or actual legal proceedings;

all recipients together.

If we pass on data to third parties, we observe the legal requirements and, in particular, conclude order processing contracts or similar agreements with the respective recipients in order to protect your personal data.

6. Data transmission abroad

We may disclose data to persons, authorities, organizations, companies or other bodies abroad. In particular, we may transfer personal data to all countries in which our processors process personal data.

If a recipient is located in a country without adequate statutory data protection, we contractually oblige the recipient to comply with the applicable data protection law (we use the revised standard contractual clauses of the European Commission, which are available here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?), unless the recipient is already subject to a legally recognized set of rules to ensure data protection and we cannot rely on an exemption clause. An exception may apply in particular in the case of legal proceedings abroad, but also in cases of overriding public interests or if the processing of a contract requires such disclosure, if you have given your consent or if the data in question has been made generally accessible by you and you have not objected to its processing.

7. Duration of storage of personal data

We process and store your personal data for as long as is necessary for the fulfillment of our contractual and legal obligations or otherwise for the purposes pursued with the processing, i.e. for the duration of the entire business relationship (from the initiation, processing to the termination of a contract) as well as beyond that in accordance with the statutory retention and documentation obligations. It is possible that personal data will be retained for the period in which claims can be asserted against our company and insofar as we are otherwise legally obliged to do so or legitimate business interests require this (for example, for evidence and documentation purposes). As soon as your personal data is no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, it will be deleted or anonymized as far as possible. In principle, shorter retention periods of twelve months or less apply to operational data (e.g. system protocols, logs).

8. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organizational security precautions to protect your personal data from unauthorized access and misuse.

We take the protection of personal data into account as early as the development or selection of hardware, software or processes through appropriate technical and organizational measures. Furthermore, we ensure a data protection-friendly default setting.

9. Obligation to provide personal data 

As part of our business relationship, you must provide the personal data that is necessary for the establishment and implementation of a business relationship and the fulfillment of the associated contractual obligations (as a rule, you do not have a legal obligation to provide us with data). Without this data, we will generally not be able to enter into or perform a contract with you (or the entity or person you represent). The website cannot be used either if certain information for securing data traffic (such as IP address) is not disclosed.

10. Rights of the data subject

You have the following rights within the scope of the data protection law applicable to you and to the extent provided for therein (such as in the case of the GDPR)

    • the right to request information from us as to whether and which of your data we process;
    • the right to have us correct data if it is incorrect;
    • the right to request the deletion of data;
    • the right to obtain from us the personal data concerning you in a commonly used electronic format or to transmit those data to another controller;
    • the right to withdraw consent where our processing is based on your consent;
    • the right to receive, on request, further information necessary for the exercise of these rights.

Please note, however, that we reserve the right to assert the restrictions provided for by law, for example if we are obliged to store or process certain data, have an overriding interest in doing so (insofar as we are entitled to invoke this) or require it for the assertion of claims. If you incur any costs, we will inform you in advance. We have already informed you about the possibility of withdrawing your consent in Section. 3 informed. Please note that exercising these rights may conflict with contractual agreements and may have consequences such as premature termination of the contract or cost consequences. We will inform you in advance if this is not already contractually regulated.

The exercise of such rights generally requires that you provide clear proof of your identity (for example, a copy of your ID where your identity is otherwise not clear or cannot be verified). To assert your rights, you can contact us at the address given in section 1.

Every data subject also has the right to enforce their claims in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch).

11. Changes

We may amend this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. The current version published on our website applies. If the privacy policy is part of an agreement with you, we will inform you of the change by e-mail or other suitable means in the event of an update.