Client Privacy

Client Privacy

This page contains the information gathering and use policies adopted by Meston Reid & Co in connection with the services we provide our private clients and the officers and employees of our corporate clients and third parties related to a client ( e.g. a trustee, dependant or beneficiary or beneficial owner) as required by law. This privacy statement ("Privacy Statement") explains how we use any personal information we collect from you, or that you provide to us. Please read the following carefully to understand our policies regarding your personal information.  These policies are subject to periodic review and any changes will be included within this section of our website.

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 (the "Data Protection Act") the data controller is Michael JM Reid who can be contacted at Meston Reid & Co, 12 Carden Place, Aberdeen, AB10 1UR.

Unless you instruct us otherwise, information (which includes any personal information) you provide to us will be used by Meston Reid & Co.

Information That We Collect

We generally collect data from you directly but we may also collect data from third parties such as:

  • Other advisers and intermediaries (such as solicitors, banks, stockbrokers, land agents and independent financial advisers), both current and previous.
  • HMRC and other governmental organisations.
  • Company information databases.
  • Client identification and verification services.
  • Your family or estate office.
  • Publicly available sources, such as Companies House.
  • Your agents and representatives, such as your power of attorney.
  • Other professional services providers that provide services to you
  • Other third parties.

What data we collect and for what purpose will depend on whether you are a private client or a representative of a corporate client.

Data we collect may include:

  • Basic contact information
  • Proof of age and identity information such as copies of passport or driving licence.
  • Financial information such as bank and employment details.
  • HMRC client data.
  • Trust information.
  • Referral letters from third party institutions.
  • Sensitive personal data.
  • Additional information applicable only to our private clients, such as beneficiary details and powers of attorney.
  • Information relating to your use of our website, further details of which can be found in our website privacy statement.

How we use your personal data

We will use data about you for the following purposes:

  • To provide services detailed in our letter of engagement with you.
  • To make payments to HMRC on your behalf.
  • To collect and make insurance claims on your behalf.
  • To create and manage records of your involvement with us and to communicate with you.
  • To contact you with respect to the services that we provide.
  • Sending you marketing information (but only to the extent you have consented).
  • If you provide your consent to share data with financial institutions, employers or landlords for the purposes of mortgages, leases and other financial references.
  • To verify your residence and identity in order to comply with our legal and regulatory requirements.
  • To comply with legal and or regulatory obligations.

Provision of information to third parties

We may share data about you with:

  • Our insurers in the event of a potential insurance claim;
  • Your other professional advisers;
  • We may share sensitive data with oversight regulators and statutory bodies such as HMRC, the Scottish Charity Regulator and the Insolvency Service:
  • Financial institutions;
  • Family and estate offices;
  • Third parties interested in acquiring you (in respect of corporate clients only);
  • Third parties who provide us with products or services such as software providers; and
  • Other third parties, where required or permitted by law.

Meston Reid & Co does not provide information to third parties for their own marketing purposes. 

Safeguarding measures

Meston Reid & Co takes your privacy seriously and takes every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal data. We work hard to protect you and your information and we implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data that we hold from unauthorised disclosure, use, alteration or destruction. Where appropriate, we use encryption and other technologies that can assist in securing the data you provide.

Personal information is processed by our staff in our Aberdeen office.  As part of the service we provide it may be necessary for some information to be transferred to a country outside the EEA.   In all cases, we will implement appropriate security measures, for the protection of personal data in these countries.  We will also require our service providers to comply with strict data privacy requirements.

As we have clients based out with the EEA we will sometime have to transfer information outside the EEA.  We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that all personal information is properly protected.

How long we keep your data

Meston Reid & Co only ever retains personal information in accordance with legal, regulatory, financial and best-practice business requirements. Once our contract with you ends, we will securely delete/destroy your data in line with our data retention policies.

Your Rights

You have the right to access any personal information that Meston Reid & Co processes about you and to request information about: -

·      What personal data we hold about you

·      The purposes of the processing

·      The categories of personal data concerned

·      The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed

·      How long we intend to store your personal data for

·      If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source

If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to do so as quickly as possible; unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.

You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing (where applicable) in accordance with the data protection laws; as well as to object to any direct marketing from us. Where applicable, you have the right to data portability of your information.  You can also withdraw your consent to using the information we hold.

If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the request; this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure.

Legitimate interests

Meston Reid & Co will occasionally send clients email that is identified as being beneficial to our clients and in our interests. Such information will be relevant to you as a client and is non-intrusive, and you will always have the option to opt-out/unsubscribe at any time. If you would prefer not to receive above-mentioned marketing, please click the unsubscribe link at the foot of the email.

We will never collect any unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information in any way, other than as specified in this notice.

Changes to Client privacy statement

Any changes to our Client Privacy Statement will be posted on this page of the Site. We would encourage users to check the Client Privacy Statement each time they use the Site. If our privacy policy changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures that you are always aware of what information we collect and how we use this information.


This privacy notice was last updated in May 2018.

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