Privacy Policy

Introduction

Access Bank (Rwanda) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. 

This Privacy Policy seeks to provide you with information about how Access Bank (Rwanda) processes your personal information (including the collection, usage, storage, retention, and security of your Personal Data).

Access Bank (Rwanda) will only process your information where the Bank has received the information directly from you as a data controller or by our clients where we are processors in accordance with their instructions and in line with the Bank’s obligations and other Jurisdictional Data Protection laws that are applicable.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. 

This Privacy Policy shall be amended or updated from time to time to reflect changes in our practices with respect to the processing of personal data, or changes in applicable data protection regulations.

What constitutes consent?

You consent to our use of your personal information when you (voluntarily) provide us with them to access any of our products online or in any of our banking outlets.

Security of personal information

Safeguarding your personal information is our main concern. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with applicable laws and regulations to secure your information from unauthorized access and use, accidental or unlawful alteration and destruction, and other unlawful or unauthorized forms of processing.  We engage in the continuous training of our employees in the proper management of personal information. When we use other companies to provide services, we require them to protect the confidentiality of the personal information they receive.

At Access Bank (Rwanda) Plc, we take data privacy very seriously and we provide our customers with all necessary data security to protect such personal information from unauthorized access. We require any third parties who carry out any work on our behalf to comply with appropriate compliance standards to protect your information. We are pleased to announce that we comply with global best practices and requirements of the GDPR of the European Union.

The information we collect.

We collect the personal information necessary to open a bank account as mandated by the National Bank of Rwanda. They include name, address, telephone number, email address, contact address, and Means of Identification. All these required that personal data are collected voluntarily and clearly when you access our products online or offline.

How do we collect information?

We may collect information from a range of sources, and it may relate to any of the products or services we currently provide or may have provided in the past.

We collect your personal information when...

• you open an account or perform transactions such as making deposits or withdrawals from your account, payment history, and transaction records.
• you apply for a loan or use your credit or debit card.
• you seek advice about your investments.
• you seek information from our customer service provider, information concerning complaints and disputes.
• we seek information about your credit history from credit bureaus.
• you provide account information such as your personal details e.g. name, gender, date, and place of birth; contact information such as an address, email address, and mobile numbers, provide your employment information.
• you provide information concerning your identity e.g., photo ID, passport information, National ID card, and nationality.
• you use your login credentials for online banking and mobile banking apps.
• we conduct necessary investigations i.e., due diligence checks, and AML/CFT/CPF checks, and obtain information that we need to support our regulatory obligations, e.g. information about transaction details, and detection of any suspicious and unusual activities. 

Note that we may collect information about your computer (or mobile device), including where available your IP address, operating system, and browser type, for system administration or for our own commercial purposes. This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns and does not identify any individual. 

How we use your information

• Access Bank will only use your information when you have provided your consent or when the Bank is required by the law to do so.
• We use the information we collect to provide customers with excellent products and services, manage our business, and offer an enriched and enhanced customer experience.
• We make appropriate use of your data to manage transactions, respond to your requests, and provide you with more relevant products and services.
• We use your information to deliver our products and services, carry out your instructions, and provide Online Banking, mobile banking, and other online product and services.
• We use this information to detect and prevent financial crimes including fraud, financing for terrorism, proliferation financing, and money laundering, this is to ensure security and business continuity.
• We will use your information to meet our compliance obligations, to comply with laws and regulations, and share with regulators when absolutely necessary.
• We may also use personal information we have about you such as your email address to deliver advertising to you directly or on our websites and provide updates on special deals and offers that might interest you (unless you tell us otherwise).
• We may send you general announcements or important news about your account, request your feedback and we believe you should be able to select what kinds of information you receive from us via email.
• We may need to record conversations you have with us including phone calls, face-to-face meetings, letters, emails, and any other kinds of communication. These recordings may be used to check your instructions to us and improve our product and service delivery.

Who do we share your information with

Towards enhancing our service delivery, we may share data with our technical support service providers, partners, and associates However, where applicable, we execute compliant data-sharing agreements or data processing agreements to provide an extra layer of protection for personal information shared in the process.

Lawful Basis for Processing Information

We shall process your information on the following basis:

• To enter and perform our contractual obligations.
• To comply with our legal obligations
• For the performance of a statutory duty 
• For the legitimate interest of Access Bank (Rwanda).
• To satisfy a public interest
• Prior consent has been obtained from data subjects for the use and processing of personal data.

Individual rights

The right to be informed.

To emphasize the need for transparency over the usage of personal data, we ensure fair processing of information typically through this privacy policy.

The right to access

Individuals have the right to access information the Bank holds, access their personal data and other supplementary information, and obtain information about how we process it.

The right to restrict processing.

Individuals have a right to ‘block’ or withdraw their consent to our processing of your information, which you can do at any time. When processing is restricted, we are permitted to store the personal data, but not further process it.

The right to rectification

Individuals are entitled to have personal data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete. If this personal data in question has been disclosed to third parties, they must be informed of the rectification where possible. The Bank must also inform the individuals about the third parties to whom the data has been disclosed where appropriate.

The right to erasure

Individuals have the right to request the deletion or removal of personal data where there is no compelling legal or regulatory requirement for its continued processing. The Bank will make sure that this right is protected.

The right to data portability

We will ensure that personal data is moved, copied, or transferred easily from one IT environment to another in a safe and secure way, without hindrance to usability.

The right to object

Individuals have the right to object to our processing of their information in some circumstances.

Retention Period

Access Bank (Rwanda) Plc shall keep your information for as long as it is necessary and relevant to the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we may either delete or anonymize such information, or if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your information and isolate it from further processing.

Use of CCTV

When you visit our branches, we use CCTV cameras for security reasons and record keeping.

Available remedies

In the event of an infringement of data protection rights, we will use ensure any damage is remedied within the shortest possible time. However, you are at liberty to report to the Data Protection Office under the National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA) or seek other legal remedies.  

Cookies Policy

A cookie is a small file that is placed on your computer’s hard drive. Its functions include storing your login and session statuses, recording your user preferences, and analyzing web traffic.

Cookies enable websites and applications to store your user preferences in order to enhance your overall website experience by better understanding your preferences, likes, and dislikes. They also allow websites to identify when users are logged on to their site and when they return to their site, test new content, and analyze web traffic with data analytics.

Apart from the date that you elect to disclose and share with us, we cannot access your computer or any other information about you with cookies.

Although most browsers automatically accept cookies, you can amend your browser settings to disable cookies. This may however prevent you from fully experiencing the website as it was intended.

Individual Responsibility

Individuals are responsible for making sure the information provided to the Bank is accurate and should inform the Bank of any changes as it occurs, this will enable us to update your information with us.

Children

Access Bank (Rwanda) Plc understands and acknowledges the importance of safeguarding children’s privacy, hence, our sites are not intentionally designed for or directed at children under the age of 18 It is our policy never to knowingly collect or maintain information about anyone under the age of 18, except as part of an engagement to provide child-categorized account opening services which require parental guardianship. 

Data security and integrity

Access Bank (Rwanda) Plc has implemented reasonable and effective security policies and procedures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, data loss and misuse, alteration, or destruction. To the best of our ability, access to your personal information is limited to those who have a need to know and are required to always maintain the confidentiality of such information. Despite our best efforts and intentions, we acknowledge that security cannot be absolutely guaranteed against all threat actors.

Hence, we also make reasonable efforts to retain personal information only for so long

• as the data subject asks that the information be deleted
• as necessary to comply with legal, regulatory, internal business, or policy requirements, or
• the information is necessary to comply with an individual’s request. 

Automated decision making

Except as otherwise declared by the Rwanda Data Protection Law, we do not engage in automated decision-making as all our processes have human intervention.

If you would like further information on anything included in this Privacy Policy, contact us at:3rd Floor KIC City Center Building, KN4 Avenue, Kigali, E-mail: info.rwanda@accessbankplc.com

This Privacy Notice may be updated from time to time and the most recent version can be found on rwanda.accessbankplc.com