Effective Date: 1st November, 2023
Acwires (defined below under “our relationship to you”) is committed to protecting the
privacy of our customers and visitors to our Website. This Privacy Policy describes how we handle your personal data when you access our services, which include our content on the Website located at acwires.com or any other websites, pages, features, or content we own or operate (collectively, the "Site(s)"), or any Acwires API or third party applications relying on such an API, and related services (referred to collectively hereinafter as "Services").
If you have any questions about this Policy, please send them to [email protected]
Changes to this privacy policy
We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. Please check the date at the bottom of this notice to see when it was last updated.
Our relationship to you
Acwires operates internationally through different entities (together “Acwires”, “we”, “us”, “our”) in order to provide Services to our customers. The entity (or entities) you are
contracting with is First Canada Limited, with a registered office at [3179 EAST KENT AVENUE NORTH VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA V5S4Y1]
AND
Windsor First Bulgaria Limited, with a registered office at [BULGARIA, Sofia, Sredets district, Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd. 9, fl. 1].
Acwires will decide how your personal information is processed in relation to the Services provided to you (typically referred to as a “data controller”).
Personal Information we collect
Personal information means any data which relates to a living individual who can be
identified from that data, or from that data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, Acwires (or its representatives or service providers). In addition to factual information, it includes any expression of opinion about an individual and any indication of the intentions of Acwires or any other person in respect of an individual. The definition of personal information depends on the relevant law applicable for your physical location.
Information you provide to us
This includes information you provide to us in order to establish an account and/or access our Services. This information is either required by law (e.g. to verify your identity), necessary to provide the requested services (e.g. you will need to provide your bank
account number if you would like to link that account to Acwires), or is relevant for our legitimate interests described in greater detail below.
The nature of the Services you are requesting will determine the kind of personal information we might ask for, but may include:
Identification Information: Full name, date of birth, nationality, gender, signature, utility bills, photographs, phone number, home address, and/or email.
Formal Identification Information: Government issued identity document such as Passport, Driver's License, National Identity Card, State ID Card, Tax ID number, passport number, driver's license details, national identity card details, visa information, and/or any other information deemed necessary to comply with our legal obligations under financial or anti-money laundering laws.
Institutional Information: Employer Identification number (or comparable number
issued by a government), proof of legal formation (e.g. Articles of Incorporation), personal identification information for all material beneficial owners.
Financial Information: Bank account information, payment card primary account number (PAN), transaction history, trading data, and/or tax identification.
Transaction Information: Information about the transactions you make on our
Services, such as the name of the recipient, your name, the amount, and/or timestamp.
Employment Information: Office location, job title, and/or description of role.
Correspondence: Survey responses, information provided to our support team or user research team.
Information we collect automatically or generate about you
This includes information we collect automatically, such as whenever you interact with our Website or use our Services. This information helps us address customer support issues,
improve the performance of our Website and applications, provide you with a streamlined and personalized experience, and protect your account from fraud by detecting
unauthorized access. Information collected automatically includes:
Online Identifiers: Geo location/tracking details, operating system, browser name and version, and/or personal IP addresses.
Usage Data: Authentication data, security questions, click-stream data, public social networking posts, and other data collected via cookies and similar technologies. Please read our Cookie Policy for more information.
Information collected from third parties
This includes information we may obtain about you from third party sources. The main types of third parties we receive your personal information from are:
Public Databases, Credit Bureaus, ID Verification Partners, and Affiliate Partners in order to verify your identity in accordance with applicable law. ID verification partners typically use a combination of government records and publicly available information about you to verify your identity. Such information may include your name, address, job role, public employment profile, credit history, status on any sanction lists maintained by public authorities, and other relevant data.
Blockchain Data to ensure parties using our Services are not engaged in illegal or prohibited activity and to analyze transaction trends for research and development purposes.
Marketing Partners C Resellers so that we can better understand which of our Services may be of interest to you.
Technology Partners to collect geo location/tracking details, operating system, browser name and version, IP addresses, device related data for cyber security reasons.
Anonymized and aggregated data
In addition to the categories of personal information described above, Acwires will also process anonymized information and data that is not processed by reference to a specific individual. Types of data we may anonymize include transaction data, click-stream data, performance metrics and fraud indicators.
Job Applicants
If you apply for a job posting, we collect information necessary to process your application or to retain you as an employee. This may include, among other things, your name, contact information (email address and phone number), CV/Resume, and national identifier (e.g., Social Security Number). Providing this information is required for employment. We have a legitimate interest in using your information to evaluate candidates for job openings. We also use information about job applicants in anticipation of a contract of employment. In some contexts, we are also required by law to collect information about applicants.
How we use your personal information
We may use your information in the following ways and for the following purposes:
To maintain legal and regulatory compliance
Acwires needs to process your personal information in order to comply with anti-money laundering and security laws. In addition, when you seek to link a bank account to your Acwires account, we may require you to provide additional information which we may use in collaboration with service providers acting on our behalf to verify your identity or address, and/or to manage risk as required under applicable law. We also process your personal information in order to help detect, prevent, and mitigate fraud and abuse of our Services and to protect you against account compromise or funds loss. If you do not provide personal information required by law, we will have to close your account.
To provide Acwires’ Services
We process your personal information to provide Services to you. For example, when you want to store funds on our platform, we require certain information such as your
identification, contact and payment information. Third parties that we use as identity verification services may also access and/or collect your personal information when
providing identity verification and/or fraud prevention services. In addition, we may need to collect fees based on your use of our Services. We collect information about your account usage and closely monitor your interactions with our Services. The consequences of not processing your personal information for such purposes would result the termination of
your account.
To provide communications and customer services
According to your preferences and in compliance with applicable law, we may send you marketing communications to inform you about events, to deliver targeted marketing and to share promotional offers. If you are a new customer, we will contact you by electronic means for marketing purposes only if you have consented to such communication. If you do not want us to send you marketing communications, please go to your account settings to opt-out or submit a request via [email protected]
We may send you service updates regarding administrative or account-related information, security issues, or other transaction-related information. These communications are
important to share developments relating to your account that may affect how you can use our Services. You cannot opt-out of receiving critical service communications.
We also process your personal information when you contact us to resolve any questions, disputes, collect fees, or to troubleshoot problems. Without processing your personal
information for such purposes, we cannot respond to your requests and ensure your uninterrupted use of the Services.
In our legitimate business interests
Sometimes the processing of your personal information is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as:
recruitment and hiring;
quality control and staff training;
to enhance security, monitor and verify identity or service access, and to combat spam or other malware or security risks;
research and development purposes;
to enhance your experience of our Services and Website;
to facilitate corporate acquisitions, mergers, or transactions; or
to fulfil regulatory requirements.
Legal bases for processing your information
Acwires maintains the highest standard in relation to personal data and will always rely on legal bases for processing your information under the relevant data protection legislation. These bases mean we will only process your data where we are legally required to, where processing is necessary to perform any contracts we entered with you (or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you), for our legitimate interests to
operate our business, to protect Acwires' or your property rights, or where we have
obtained your consent to do so. We will not use your personal information for purposes other than those purposes we have disclosed to you, without your permission.
Disclosing your personal information to third parties
We allow your personal information to be accessed only by those who require access to perform their work and share it only with third parties who have a legitimate purpose for accessing it. Acwires will never sell or rent your personal information to third parties
without your explicit consent. We will only share your personal information with the following types of third parties:
Identity verification services to prevent fraud. This allows Acwires to confirm your
identity by comparing the information you provide us to public records and other third party databases.
Financial institutions which we partner with to process payments you have authorized.
Service providers and professional advisors under contract who help with parts of our business operations. our contracts require these service providers to only use your
information in connection with the services they perform for us and prohibit them from sharing your information with anyone else.
Companies or other third parties in connection with business transfers or bankruptcy proceedings.
Companies or other entities that purchase Acwires assets.
Law enforcement, regulators, or any other third parties when we are compelled to do so by applicable law or if we have a good faith belief that such use is reasonably necessary, including to: protect the rights, property, or safety of Acwires, Acwires customers, third party, or the public; comply with legal obligations or requests; enforce our terms and other agreements; or detect or otherwise address security, fraud, or technical issues.
Third-party sites and services
If you authorize one or more third-party applications to access your Acwires Services, then information you have provided to Acwires may be shared with those third parties. A
connection you authorize or enable between your Acwires account and a non-Acwires account, payment instrument, or platform is considered an “account connection.” Unless you provide further permissions, Acwires will not authorize these third parties to use this
information for any purpose even to facilitate your transactions using Acwires Services. Please note that third parties you interact with, should have their own privacy policies and Acwires is not responsible for their operations or their use of data they collect.
How we protect and store personal information
Acwires implements and maintains reasonable measures to protect your information.
Customer files are protected with safeguards according to the sensitivity of the relevant
information. Reasonable controls (such as restricted access) are placed on our computer systems. Physical access to areas where personal information is gathered, processed or stored is limited to authorized employees.
We may store and process all or part of your personal and transactional information,
including certain payment information, such as your credit card number, bank account and/or routing numbers, where our facilities or service providers are located. We protect your personal information by maintaining physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations.
As a condition of employment, Acwires’ employees are required to follow all applicable laws and regulations, including in relation to data protection law. Access to sensitive personal information is limited to those employees who need it to perform their roles.
Unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential customer information by a Acwires employee is prohibited and may result in disciplinary measures.
When you contact a Acwires employee about your records, you may be asked for some personal details. This type of safeguard is designed to ensure that only you, or someone authorized by you, has access to your records. You also play a vital role in protecting your own personal information. Please immediately notify us if you become aware of any
unauthorized access to or use of your account.
Retention of personal information
How long we hold your personal information for will vary. The retention period will be determined by the following criteria:
the purpose for which we are using your personal information – we will need to keep the information for as long as is necessary for that purpose; and
legal obligations – laws or regulation may set a minimum period for which we have to keep your personal information.
If you have further questions about our data retention practices, please contact us at [email protected]
If we anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, it will no longer be considered personal information, and we can use it without further
notice to you.
Children's personal information
We do not knowingly request to collect personal information from any person under the age of 18. If a user submitting personal information is suspected of being younger than 18 years of age, Acwires will not allow the user to continue using our Services. We will also take steps to delete the information as soon as possible. Please notify us via
email, [email protected], if you know of any individuals under the age of 18 using our Services so we can take action to prevent access to our Services.
Cross border transfers
Acwires is a Canadian business with global operational team. This means we may transfer and/or store your personal information outside of your country. When we transfer your personal information to another country, we will ensure that any transfer and/or store of your personal information is compliant with applicable data protection law.
Data transferred out of local country
When we transfer your personal information outside of your residential country, we will ensure that it is protected in a manner that is consistent with how your personal
information will be protected by us in your residential country with the following conditions:
the country that we send and store the data will have the similar, or even higher, data protection standards;
the recipient is an internally linked organisation that has demonstrated ability to maintain the safeguards as defined by us and is mandated by the group office to protect your personal information.
In all cases, however, we will ensure that any transfer of your personal information is
compliant with data protection law. You can obtain more details of the protection given to your personal information when it is transferred outside your country by contacting us
Your privacy rights
Depending on applicable law of where you reside, you may be able to assert certain rights related to your personal information. These rights include:
the right to obtain information regarding the processing of your personal information and access to the personal information which we hold about you;
the right to withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal information at any time. Please note, however, that we may still be entitled to process your personal
information if we have another legitimate reason for doing so. For example, we may need to retain personal information to comply with a legal obligation;
in some circumstances, the right to receive some personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or request that we transmit those data to a third party where this is technically feasible. Please note that this right only applies to personal information which you have provided directly to Acwires;
the right to request that we rectify your personal information if it is inaccurate or incomplete;
the right to request that we erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Please note that there may be circumstances where you ask us to erase your personal information, but we are legally entitled to retain it;
the right to object to, or request that we restrict, our processing of your personal
information in certain circumstances. Again, there may be circumstances where you object to, or ask us to restrict, our processing of your personal information but we are legally
entitled to refuse that request; and
the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection regulator if you think that any of your rights have been infringed by us.
You can exercise your rights by contacting us using the details listed below. Further information about your rights may be obtained by contacting the supervisory data protection authority located in your jurisdiction.
How to contact us
If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, or if you have a complaint, please contact us at [email protected].
How to exercise your rights
You can exercise your rights by contacting at [email protected] so that we may consider your request.