About this privacy and cookie policy

This privacy notice was updated: 26 April 2023.

The Downing Group take their data protection and privacy responsibilities seriously. This privacy notice explains how we collect, use and share personal information in the course of our business activities, including:

• What personal information we collect and when and why we use it
• How we share personal information within Downing and with our service providers, regulators and other third parties
• How we use cookies and tracking technology on our websites
• Carrying out direct marketing
• Transferring personal information
• How we protect and store personal information
• Legal rights available to help manage your privacy
• How you can contact us for more support

We may amend this notice from time to time to keep it up to date with legal requirements and the way we operate our business. Please regularly check these pages for the latest version of this notice. If we make significant changes to this privacy notice, we will seek to inform you by notice on our website or email (“Notice of Change”).

Important information about Downing LLP: Downing LLP (“we” or “us”) a limited partnership in England and Wales, CRN: OC341575. Our office is registered at Downing, 10 Lower Thames Street, London, EC3R 6EN.

What personal information we collect and when and why we use it

In this section you can find out more about:

• The types of personal information we collect
• How we use personal information
• When we collect personal information
• The legal basis for using personal information

Data Subjects

If Downing collects information about you if you, you will usually:

• be registered with or use one of our Website(s) or online services
• be a private client
• be an intermediary
• represent one of our institutional clients
• work with us as a service provider; and/or
• visit a Downing office or register to attend a Downing event.

Personal information we collect

 Personal Information we collect will fall within one of the below categories:

How your personal data is used

Personal Information we collect will be used for one or more of the following purposes:

To manage your relationship with Downing

What we use your information for:

• To manage our relationship with you or your business, for example by finding out how best to contact you
• To develop new ways to meet our clients’ needs and to grow our business, for example by seeking client feedback or sharing our market research
• To develop and carry out marketing activities in order to keep our clients informed about our products and services
• To develop and manage our brand

Lawful Basis:

•   Legitimate interests
• Consent (where required by law)

Our legitimate interests:

•   Working out which of our products and services might interest you and telling you about them
• Communicating with you about Downing and our industry insight and providing thought leadership
• Seeking your consent when we need it to contact you  
• Keeping our records up to date and honouring your communication preferences

To develop, deliver and support our products and services in meeting our clients’ needs

What we use your information for:

• To deliver our products and services to our individual and institutional clients
• To provide advice or guidance, for example to support your use of our products and services
• To develop, test and manage new and existing products and services
• To understand how our clients use products and services from us and other organisations, for example through research and analytics
• To manage how we work with other companies that provide services to us and our clients, for example our relationships with vendors and suppliers

Lawful Basis:

• Contractual obligation
• Legal obligation
• Legitimate interests
• Consent (where required by law)

Our legitimate interests:

•  Enabling the development of our products and services, and what we charge for them
•  Defining relevant clients for new products and services to achieve good outcomes for our clients
•  Ensuring that we are able to meet our legal and contractual obligations effectively and efficiently
• Complying with regulatory requirements
  

To administer the products and services we deliver

What we use your information for:

• To make and manage client payments
• To manage and provide treasury and investment products and services
•  To manage fees, charges and interest due on client accounts
• To collect and recover money that is owed to us
• To exercise our rights set out in agreements or contracts

Lawful Basis:      

• Consent (where required by law)
• Contractual Obligation
• Legitimate interests

Our legitimate interests:

• Ensuring that we are able to effectively and efficiently meet our contractual obligations
• Complying with regulatory requirements
  

Crime Prevention and Detection

What we use your information for:  

• To detect, investigate, report, and seek to prevent fraud, financial crime, and anti-money laundering, for example through know-your-customer checks, AML screening and other identity checks
• To comply with other laws and regulations that apply to us, for example other financial services or country-specific legislation

Lawful Basis:      

• Contractual obligation
• Legal obligation
• Public Interests
• Legitimate interests

Our legitimate interests:

• Ensuring that we are able to effectively and efficiently meet our contractual obligations
• Complying with regulatory requirements
  

To protect our brand, our business and our clients’ interests

What we use your information for:  

• To manage risk for us and our clients, for example through research and statistical analysis
• To respond to complaints and seek to resolve them
• To comply with foreign laws, law enforcement and regulatory requirements that may affect us as a global institution
• To protect our IT systems, network and infrastructure
• To run our business in an efficient and proper way, for example managing our financial position, building our business capability, or for planning, communications, corporate governance or audit
• To assert legal claims/for defense in legal disputes

Lawful Basis:  

• Legitimate interests

Our legitimate interests:

• Ensuring that we are able to effectively and efficiently meet our contractual obligations
• Ensuring that we can exercise our legal rights
• Complying with regulatory requirements

Where we collect your personal information from

We will collect the personal information we use for the above purposes from one or more of the below sources:

• Directly from you throughout our relationship, including when you use our products, services and websites.
• Financial advisers
• Organisations which introduced you to us
• Public information sources (e.g., companies house)
• Fraud prevention agencies
• Credit reference agencies
• Market researchers
• Other sources which you may directly authorise us to source information from

The legal basis for using your personal information

We will only collect, use and share your personal information where we are satisfied that we have an appropriate legal basis to do this. This is explained in more detail in other sections of this Privacy Notice where we indicate that we will have one or more of the following reasons for using your personal information:

• our use of your personal information is necessary to fulfil a contract we have with you or to take steps to enter into a contract with you, for example when you ask us to provide you with a product or service
• our use of your personal information is necessary to comply with a legal obligation that we have, for example where we are required to report to tax authorities
• our use of your personal information is required for regulatory reasons that are in the public interest, for example to prevent and detect financial crime
• you have provided your consent to us using the personal information, for example if you have agreed to receive marketing communications
• our use of your personal information is in our legitimate interest as a commercial organisation to provide services to our clients, provided our use is proportionate and respects your privacy rights; where we rely on our legitimate interest, we will tell you what that interest is  

How we share your personal information

Sharing personal information within Downing, with third parties, with our regulators

In this section you can find out more about how we share personal information:

• Within Downing LLP
• With third parties that help us provide our products and services
• Our regulators

We share your information in the manner and for the purposes described below:

• within Downing LLP, where such disclosure is necessary to provide you with our services or to manage our business
• with third parties who help manage our business and deliver services. These third parties have agreed to confidentiality restrictions and use any personal information we share with them or which they collect on our behalf solely for the purpose of providing the contracted service to us. These include IT service providers who help manage our IT and back-office systems
• with agencies and organisations working to prevent fraud in financial services
• with our regulators
• to comply with all applicable laws, regulations and rules, and requests of law enforcement, regulatory and other governmental agencies
• we may share in aggregate, statistical form, non-personal information regarding the visitors to our website, traffic patterns, and website usage with our business partners, affiliates or advertisers

Using cookies and other technologies

In this section you can find out more about:

• Types of cookies used on our websites
• Third party advertisers
• Third party sites
• Control your cookie settings ‍

Types of cookies used on our website

We use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies (“Cookies”) to track information provided to us by your browser and by our software application when you use our websites. A Cookie is a small piece of information that a website stores on the web browser on your device and can later retrieve. “Session” Cookies are temporary and will expire at the end of a browser session; that is, when you leave a website. Session Cookies allow a website to recognize you and carry information as you navigate between pages during a single browser session and allow you to use the website most efficiently. “Persistent” Cookies, in contrast, remain in the Cookie file of your browser even after you leave a website and after the browser is closed. They enable a website to recognize you upon your return, remember your preferences and provide tailored services to you. A Cookie will not contain information that will enable us to contact you via telephone, e-mail, or other means.

We use HubSpot cookies to determine if a user has restarted their browser and for tracking a visitor’s identity; we use Google Analytics cookies for tracking a visitor’s behaviour. The validity period for a Google Analytics cookie is two years and HubSpot’s is six months.

We, and third-party service providers acting on our behalf, use session and persistent Cookies to:

• Remember preferences that you submit as well as those generated from your usage data and your responses to polls and surveys on our websites
• Measure your use of our websites in an effort to improve its quality and enhance your overall experience, including tracking page views, time and date of website access, and other usage data, and identifying your operating system and browser type (but not other information about your computer or the programs on it) and your general geographic location; and
• Allow you to share certain information on our websites via social media bookmarking buttons, email or on social networking sites.

The third-party service providers mentioned above use any personal information they collect on our behalf solely for the purpose of providing the contracted service to us. They have also agreed to confidentiality restrictions.

We may use aggregated usage data to track trends and analyse patterns on our websites. If you register to enter an area of our websites, the website will recognize who you are and collect all information that you submit (including subscription to emails, etc.). Information collected about you from this website may be associated with other identifying information that we have about you.

Third Party Advertisers

We may use third party advertising companies to serve ads on our behalf on other websites across the Internet. To measure and track the effectiveness of such ads, these companies typically use Cookies; so a Cookie may be set in the Cookie file of your browser when you click on one of our ads or visit a webpage associated with our ad campaigns. These companies may also use and measure information about your visits to our Site as part of this same process. The information provided to us by these companies about you will be de-identified.

Third Party websites

Our websites contain links to third party sites (including social media bookmarking buttons that enable you share certain content to our websites). Although some of the entities controlling these websites are under contract with us, not all of them are, so we advise you to familiarise yourself with the individual privacy and cookie notice and other terms for each linked website prior to submitting your personal information. We are not responsible for and do not have control over their terms of use or privacy notices, have not reviewed them and we do not accept any liability with respect to the content of these websites or how they use Cookies and handle your personal information. This privacy notice does not apply to your use of a third-party website.

Control your Cookie settings

Most browsers are initially set to accept Cookies. However, you have the ability to change your browser settings. It may also be possible to configure your browser settings to enable acceptance of specific Cookies or to notify you each time a new Cookie is about to be stored on your device enabling you to decide whether to accept or reject the Cookie. You can also disable Cookies by configuring your browser setting to reject Cookies. Please refer to the help section of your browser for instructions on disabling Cookies. For more information about Cookies, how they work, why they are so useful and how to disable them, you can visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

If you do not wish to accept Cookies from our website, please either disable them or refrain from using our website. If Cookies are disabled, it may mean that you experience reduced functionality or will be prevented from using all or part of our website.

Carrying out direct marketing

In this section you can find out more about:

• How we use personal information to keep you up to date with our products and services
• How you can manage your marketing preferences

How we use personal information to keep you up to date with our products and services

We may use personal information to let you know about Downing products and services that we believe will be of interest to you. We may contact you by email, post, or telephone or through other communication channels that we think you may find helpful. In all cases, we will respect your preferences for how you would like us to manage marketing activity with you.

How you can manage your marketing preferences

To protect your privacy rights and ensure you have control over how we manage marketing with you:

• we will take steps to limit direct marketing to a reasonable and proportionate level and only send you communications which we believe may be of interest or relevance to you
• you can ask us to stop direct marketing at any time. You can ask us to stop sending email marketing by following the ‘unsubscribe’ link you will find on the email marketing messages we send you. Alternatively, you can contact us. Please specify whether you would like us to stop all forms of marketing or just a particular type (e.g. email); and
• you can change the way your browser manages cookies, which may be used to deliver online advertising, by following the settings on your browser as explained above.
• We recommend you routinely review the privacy notices and preference settings that are available to you on social media platforms, as well as your preferences within your Downing account.

How we protect and store your information

Security

We have implemented and maintain a comprehensive information security program with written policies and procedures designed to protect the confidentiality and integrity of personal information. The information security program contains administrative, technical and physical safeguards, appropriate to the type of information concerned, designed to: (i) maintain the security and confidentiality of such information; (ii) protect against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of such information; (iii) protect against unauthorized access to or use of such information that could result in substantial harm, and (iv) ensure appropriate disposal of such information. The security of your personal information also depends in part on the security of the devices you use to communicate with us, the security you use to protect user IDs and passwords, and the security provided by your internet service providers. ‍

Storing your personal information

We will store your personal information for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, as explained in this notice. In some circumstances we may store your personal information for longer periods of time, for instance where we are required to do so in accordance with legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, or necessary technical requirements. In specific circumstances we may store your personal information for longer periods of time so that we have an accurate record of your dealings with us in the event of any complaints or challenges, or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation relating to your personal information or dealings.

Legal rights available to help manage your privacy

Subject to certain exemptions, and in some cases dependent upon the processing activity we are undertaking, you have certain rights in relation to your personal information. Please note that depending on your location your rights may vary. Click on the links below to learn more about each right you may have:

• To access personal information
• To rectify / erase personal information
• To restrict the processing of your personal information
• To transfer your personal information
• To object to the processing of personal information
• To object to how we use your personal information for direct marketing purposes
• To obtain a copy of personal information safeguards used for transfers outside your jurisdiction
• To lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority

We may ask you for additional information to confirm your identity and for security purposes, before disclosing the personal information requested to you. We reserve the right to charge a fee where permitted by law, for instance if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

You can exercise your rights by contacting us. Subject to legal and other permissible considerations, we will use reasonable efforts to honour your request promptly or inform you if we require further information in order to fulfil your request.

We may not always be able to fully address your request, for example if it would impact the duty of confidentiality we owe to others, or if we are legally entitled to deal with the request in a different way.

Right to access personal information

You have a right to request that we provide you with a copy of your personal information that we hold and you have the right to be informed of: (a) the source of your personal information; (b) the purposes, legal basis and methods of processing; (c) the data controller’s identity; and (d) the entities or categories of entities to whom your personal information may be transferred.

Right to rectify or erase personal information

You have a right to request that we rectify inaccurate personal information. We may seek to verify the accuracy of the personal information before rectifying it.

You can also request that we erase your personal information in limited circumstances where:

• it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected; or
• you have withdrawn your consent (where the data processing was based on consent); or
• following a successful right to object or
• it has been processed unlawfully; or
• to comply with a legal obligation to which Downing is subject.

We are not required to comply with your request to erase personal information if the processing of your personal information is necessary:

• for compliance with a legal obligation; or
• for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
  

Right to restrict the processing of your personal information

You can ask us to restrict your personal information, but only where:

• its accuracy is contested, to allow us to verify its accuracy; or
• the processing is unlawful, but you do not want it erased; or
• it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, but we still need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
• you have exercised the right to object, and we are considering your request

We can continue to use your personal information following a request for restriction:

• where we have your consent; or
• to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
• to protect the rights of another natural or legal person.
  

Right to transfer your personal information

You can ask us to provide your personal information to you in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, or you can ask to have it transferred directly to another data controller, but in each case only where:

• the processing is based on your consent or on the performance of a contract with you; and
• the processing is carried out by automated means.

Right to object to the processing of your personal information

You can object to any processing of your personal information which has our legitimate interests as its legal basis, if you believe your fundamental rights and freedoms outweigh our legitimate interests.
If you raise an objection, we have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate interests which override your rights and freedoms.

Right to object to how we use your personal information for direct marketing purposes

You can request that we change the manner in which we contact you for marketing purposes.
You can request that we not transfer your personal information to unaffiliated third parties for the purposes of direct marketing or any other purposes.

Right to obtain a copy of personal information safeguards used for transfers outside your jurisdiction

You can ask to obtain a copy of, or reference to, the safeguards under which your personal information is transferred to countries not providing an adequate level of data protection.  

We may redact data agreements to protect commercial terms.

Right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority

You have a right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority if you have concerns about how we are processing your personal information. We ask that you please attempt to resolve any issues with us first, although you have a right to contact your supervisory authority at any time. A link to United Kingdom supervisory authority can be accessed .

Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust plc (DORE)

To see the privacy and cookie policy for Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust plc, please visit www.downing.co.uk/legals/dore-privacy-and-cookie-policy.

Contact us

If you would like to contact us regarding our privacy and cookie policy, please email gdpr@downing.co.uk  directly or by post using the below address.

By post: Downing, 10 Lower Thames Street, London, EC3R 6EN

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints regarding our compliance with this notice and the data protection laws, or if you wish to exercise your rights, we encourage you to first contact our Customer Services Team. We will investigate and attempt to resolve complaints and disputes and will make every reasonable effort to honour your wish to exercise your rights as quickly as possible and in any event, within the timescales provided by data protection laws.

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