Privacy Policy
Last Updated: September 6, 2023
Your privacy and trust are important to Wealthsimple, and so is being clear about how we collect, use, and disclose information about you. This notice is provided on behalf of Wealthsimple and its affiliates, listed here (“Affiliates”). For more information please refer to our Legal Disclaimers page.
Wealthsimple Inc.
Wealthsimple Payments Inc.
Simpletax Software Inc.
Wealthsimple Investments Inc.
Wealthsimple Media Inc.
Wealthsimple Mortgage Services Inc.
What does this policy apply to?
Wealthsimple products and services, including Cash, Tax, Self-directed Investing, Invest, and Crypto (the “Products”) available through the Wealthsimple application (the “app”)
Wealthsimple’s website, including all subpages and successor pages (collectively referred to as the “Website”)
any interactions with our clients, prospective clients and prospective employees.
This Privacy Policy will continue to apply for as long as we hold your information, including after the termination of any of your products or services with us. By providing us with your personal information, you are consenting to the collection, use, and sharing of your personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy.
If we change our privacy practices, we will update this privacy policy. If any changes are significant, we will let you know.
What personal information we collect
Information you provide to us that enables you to use our services
Biographical information
May include your name, address, phone numbers, email address, birthdate, Social Insurance Number (SIN), or other national or provincial identifiers provided by you when you sign up for an account.
Financial information
May include bank account information, transactional history, account types and balances or limits, names of financial institutions, and related financial information that we collect from you or your financial institution.
Beneficiary information
If you sign up for a registered retirement account, we may ask you to provide certain beneficiary information such as your spouse’s name and occupation, children’s or dependents’ names, and ages that we collect from you on your application forms.
Photo ID
We may collect copies of government-issued identification or a picture of yourself (a “selfie”) that you provide us or one of our service providers.
Signatures
We may collect your signature if you sign up for certain product offerings, such as cheques.
Questionnaire responses and other regulatory questions
This may include asset holdings and values, and investment knowledge and objectives that you provide in risk information forms we ask you to complete.
Referral program information
This may include information you provide us if you participate in our referral programs or “Invite a Friend” features. We collect contact information such as the email address of the individual who you wish to refer to Wealthsimple, and who consented to receiving the referral. We use this information to send the recipient a one-time email containing information about the referral program.
Information you provide when you contact us
If you reach out to a customer service agent or advisor you may be asked for information that identifies you (such as your name, address, or a phone number), along with additional information we need to help us promptly answer your question or respond to your comment or complaint. We may record the conversation or retain this information to assist you in the future and to improve our customer service, and product and service offerings.
Information about your contacts
Sharing your contacts is a feature in the Wealthsimple Cash product that can allow us to identify which of your contacts in your device’s address book are also using the app in order to provide you certain features such as sending your contacts money, requesting money, or inviting them to use the app.
Note: You may only interact with individuals with whom you have a personal or family relationship and who would want to receive the message from you. We may also share basic contact information (based on your privacy settings) with other users, to confirm they are sending money to the right person, or notifying existing users in your contacts when you join the app.
Cross-Border Payments Information
If you send payments to individuals outside of Canada we may require you to provide those individuals’ financial information for the purposes of facilitating such transactions. In providing the personal information of any individuals other than yourself, you confirm that you have obtained consent from such individuals to disclose their personal information to us or are otherwise entitled to provide this information to us. Any information you share will be handled in accordance with this policy.
Employment Information
If you inquire about or apply for a job with Wealthsimple or any of our Affiliates, you may provide us with certain personal information about yourself (such as that contained in a resume, cover letter, or similar employment-related materials). We use this information for the purpose of processing and responding to your application for current and future career opportunities.
All our positions are posted on wealthsimple.com and https://jobs.lever.co/wealthsimple. To help prevent fraud targeting Wealthsimple potential candidates, please be aware of the following:
Please do not complete any paperwork (background checks, employment agreements, etc.), unless you have verified the identity of the Wealthsimple employee that is making the request.
Wealthsimple will never ask for any form of payment or request you to purchase equipment.
Please do not deposit any cheques issued by Wealthsimple, or purporting to be issued by Wealthsimple, if the reason why you have received the cheque is unclear.
Information automatically collected through your use of the Wealthsimple Products or Website
Service Information
We collect information that is generated through your actions when you use our app or Website, such as your transactions, interactions with our Products, your preferences or statistics regarding your use of our services.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
Please see our Cookie Policy for more information.
Log Data and Usage Information
In general, you can visit our Website without indicating who you are or submitting any personal information. However, we collect and log the IP (Internet protocol) addresses of all visitors to the Websites and other related information such as page requests, browser type, operating system, and average time spent on the app and Website. We use this information to help us understand activity and to monitor and improve the app and Website.
Analytics
We may use third parties, including Google Analytics, to help us gather and analyze information about the areas visited on the Websites in order to better understand, evaluate and improve the user experience and the convenience of the Websites.
Personal Information we collect from third parties
Information from Third Party Service providers
We may gather information from service providers, for example from credit reporting agencies or from your mobile service provider (e.g. name, credit history), as part of identity verification or fraud prevention.
If you decide to fund your account or link a bank account automatically using one of our partners, including Plaid or Flinks, we will receive data collected from your financial accounts, including identity and transaction information from all accounts and sub-accounts (e.g. chequing, savings, and credit cards) accessible through the account credentials you used. Depending on your product and the programs you have agreed to participate in, this data may include the following:
Account information, including financial institution name, account name and account type; and
Information about an account balance, including current and available balance (e.g. for instant fund transfers)
Social Media Information
If you engage with our content through social networking websites, plug-ins and applications, we may collect certain information associated with your social media account (e.g., name, username, email address, profile picture, gender) Credit Information
Wealthsimple may obtain additional information about you from third parties such as credit reporting agencies, when:
You are applying for a credit product (e.g. a credit card, line of credit); and/or
When we ask you for consent
to help assess your creditworthiness and eligibility for our credit products. The information we obtain from credit reporting agencies may include the types and amounts of credit advanced to you, payment histories, collection actions, legal proceedings, previous bankruptcies and other information reported by your creditors.
If you hold one of our credit products, we may exchange information and reports about you with credit reporting agencies on an ongoing basis in order to verify your credit worthiness, assess and manage our credit risks, establish credit limits, qualify you for other products and services, present you with tailored information, recommendations and offers (such as pre-approvals, limit increases, investing opportunities and signup & transfer offers), verify your identity, and detect and prevent fraud. The information we share about you may include information from your credit records with Wealthsimple including repayment history, which will help establish your credit history and support the credit reporting system. We may obtain Information and reports about you from Equifax Canada Inc., Trans Union of Canada, Inc. or any other credit reporting agency. You may access and rectify any of your personal information contained in their files by contacting them directly through their respective websites www.consumer.equifax.ca and www.transunion.ca.
If you apply for a credit product we may ask about your employment status and annual income.
How we use your personal information
In addition to the purposes identified to you before or at the time of collection, the personal information we collect is used for the following purposes, as applicable:
understanding your financial needs and delivering financial products and services that help meet them;
helping us choose the portfolio that best fits you and your needs;
verifying your identity and other information you have provided to us;
managing your relationship among Wealthsimple Products and Affiliates (i.e., Wealthsimple Invest, Self-directed Investing, Cash and Crypto), including opening and servicing your account, and maintaining accurate and consistent information about you;
helping us manage and assess our risks and operations;
detecting, preventing and suppressing errors, fraud, financial abuse and other unauthorized or illegal activities;
meeting legal and regulatory requirements, including self-regulatory organizations;
tailoring your app or Website experience, including making recommendations for Wealthsimple products or services;
de-identifying your information by removing personal identifiers such as your name, address and account numbers. This information will not be used to identify individuals, and may be used for analytics and reporting, developing and improving our products and services, and identifying trends and insights that may be of value to us and our clients;
transferring your account to or from another institution; and
as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.
Profiling Information
We may use your data to customize your experience and generate personal information about you, such as predicting your personal preferences, economic situation, or products you may be eligible for.
Automated Decision Making
Wealthsimple may use automated decision making systems to process your personal information. Wealthsimple may rely on decisions made by these automated systems for the following purposes:
providing our Products or services to you (e.g. verifying your identity, assessing internal risk or creditworthiness);
customer service purposes (e.g. using AI powered chatbots);
security, anti-money laundering, and fraud detection or prevention purposes.
Please see the Contact Us section below for information on how to reach out to us regarding our use of these systems, including challenging a decision made about you.
Where we send your personal information
We do not sell your personal information.
Affiliates: When you open a Wealthsimple account, you may be required to open an account with one or more Wealthsimple Affiliates (e.g. Cash or Crypto). These Affiliates may share your information with other Wealthsimple Affiliates, including records of transactions and statements of cash and securities in your accounts, or in instances where we believe you might be interested in other Wealthsimple Products or services.
Service Providers: We may transfer your personal information to our Affiliates and other third party service providers who provide various services on our behalf such as identity verification, technology, administration, printing, marketing and advertising, hosting, data analysis, legal and accounting. Should you use automatic account linking, your account data may be shared with the third party service provider, including Plaid or Flinks (as applicable), in accordance with their privacy policies.
We use various service providers to specifically assist us with identity verification. These service providers may review the personal information documentation you provide us to confirm its authenticity, or may compare your information in our control with information about you from other sources (e.g. credit reporting agencies, telecommunications providers) to confirm your identity when creating or logging in to your account. We may use biometric ID verification providers, such as Onfido, to confirm the authenticity of photo identification and to verify the identities of new clients, however alternative methods of verification are available. We take these steps to verify your identity very seriously in order to detect, prevent and suppress errors, fraud, financial abuse and other unauthorized or illegal activities.
Partners: We may share your personal information with third party financial institutions that jointly offer, underwrite, endorse, or sponsor elements of our Products or services. We may also enter into partnership or referral arrangements with third parties who seek to provide you with products or services (“Referrals”). We do not provide your personal information as part of a Referral without your consent.
Business Transactions: If we enter into a business transaction involving personal information or are considering one, such as selling assets, we may share personal information securely with the other parties to the transaction, for example, as part of due diligence or when we complete the transaction. Accordingly, we may transfer information we have about you in connection with a prospective or completed merger or sale (including transfers made as part of insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings) involving all or part of Wealthsimple or as part of financing, a corporate reorganization or stock sale or other change in corporate control, including for the purpose of determining whether to proceed or continue with such transaction or business relationship.
Securities Regulations: We may share your personal information, including name, contact information, holdings and beneficiary information with issuers of securities that you hold in your account and other persons/companies as required in accordance with securities law. Such issuers may require your personal information in order to deliver financial reports, tax documents and other relevant materials to you or to comply with applicable regulatory obligations. We may also disclose certain personal information, including the number of and purchase price of units purchased, to the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authority where required by law.
Legal: We and our Affiliates, and third party service providers, may provide your personal information in response to a search warrant or other legally valid inquiry or order, or to another organization for the purposes of investigating a breach of an agreement or contravention of law. This may include lawful access requests by Canadian, US, or other foreign courts, law enforcement, or governmental authorities for the purposes of detecting, suppressing or preventing fraud, or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable Canadian, US, or other law. We may also disclose personal information where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims and to investigate or prevent actual or suspect loss or harm to persons or property.
How We Protect Your Information
We implement safeguards
We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards in an effort to protect personal information in our custody and control against unauthorized access, use, modification, and disclosure. We train our employees to keep clients’ personal information strictly private and confidential. We require all of our staff to sign confidentiality agreements that oblige them to respect and protect clients’ personal information. We ensure that departing staff understand they remain contractually obliged to respect the privacy of clients’ personal information.
Your online access to elements of your personal information is protected with a password you select. We strongly recommend that you do not disclose your password to anyone. We will never ask you for your password in any unsolicited communication (such as letters, phone calls or email messages).
We don’t retain information longer than necessary
We have personal information retention processes designed to retain personal information of our clients and prospective clients for no longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy or to otherwise meet legal requirements.
We limit access to clients’ personal information.
We store personal information electronically on computer servers to which only authorized persons have access, and only by means of secure passwords. We authorize employees and service providers to have access to clients’ personal information only on a “need-to-know” basis in order to fulfill their job requirements.
We require similar safeguards from our service providers.
Our service providers are transferred the information they need to perform their designated functions and committed to maintaining your confidentiality. Our service providers are not permitted to use your information for any unauthorized purpose. Your personal information may be maintained and processed by our Affiliates and other third party service providers outside of Canada, including Quebec, in the US or other jurisdictions. In the event personal information is transferred to the US or other foreign jurisdiction, it will be subject to the laws of that jurisdiction and may be disclosed to or accessed by the courts, law enforcement and governmental authorities in accordance with the laws of those jurisdictions
Steps you can take to protect your Personal Information
To protect your user account, we encourage you to:
Activate two-factor authentication for your Wealthsimple account as well as for any other service you use that offers it. It's an extra security step that helps protect your accounts.
Use a long and unique password for Wealthsimple. Do not use the same password across different websites or apps.
Never share your password with anyone
Limit access to your computer, phone and browser
Log out once you have finished using Wealthsimple on a shared device
Your Rights Over Your Information
Individuals have the right to access, update, and correct personal information in Wealthsimple’s custody and control, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. You may update certain profile information you have provided to us by logging in to your account and clicking “Settings”. Otherwise, if you wish to request access, updating and corrections of inaccuracies in personal information in our possession or control, you may send a written request to this effect to privacy@wealthsimple.com. We may request certain personal information for the purposes of verifying the identity of the individual seeking access to their personal information records.
Marketing Communications
From time to time, we may send you email, SMS text messages and other communications about Wealthsimple products, services, or events that may be of interest to you, as well as products, services or events of our Affiliates. You can opt-out of receiving marketing and promotional email from us by following the unsubscribe instructions contained in each of our email communications. Please note that you will continue to receive email regarding your account and transactions with us. Alternatively, you can unsubscribe from any of our marketing communications by contacting us at support@wealthsimple.com
Contact us
Wealthsimple's Chief Privacy Officer is responsible for ensuring that Wealthsimple adheres to its privacy policy.
If you would like to make a request, a complaint or ask a question about how we process your personal information, please contact our privacy team at privacy@wealthsimple.com.