Privacy Policy

1. The Reserve Bank of Australia's Commitment to Privacy

The Reserve Bank of Australia (the Bank) respects the privacy of the individuals who interact with it or whose personal information it collects indirectly, and is committed to protecting the privacy of those individuals as required by the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) and the Privacy (Australian Government Agencies – Governance) APP Code 2017 which is registered under the Privacy Act. This Policy sets out some key information about the Bank's approach to privacy.

2. The Kinds of Personal Information We Collect and Why

The main kinds of personal information the Bank usually collects and holds include personal information about individuals who are current and former:

• Bank staff and applicants for employment with or engagement by the Bank
• members of superannuation funds to which the Bank makes contributions or members on behalf of whom the Bank pays healthcare premium subsidies to the Reserve Bank Health Society (RBHS)
• members of the Reserve Bank Board, the Payments System Board, the Reserve Bank Board Audit Committee, the audit and risk committee of the Bank’s subsidiary, Note Printing Australia Limited (NPA), or the NPA Board
• staff of NPA who are involved in providing services to or liaison with the Bank
• executives and other staff of Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System (RITS) members and applicants for RITS membership
• executives and other staff or officials of other organisations with which the Bank deals or interacts in the course of performance of its functions and powers including executives and other staff or officials in government or another regulator or government agency in Australia or overseas, financial institutions, global development institutions, payment system providers, payment system participants, payments industry associations and their members and clearing and settlement facility applicants and licensees
• signatories and other operatives on accounts and custody arrangements including signatories on bank accounts and custody arrangements for overseas central banks or official institutions, contract authorities, verifying officers and signatories on accounts held by government agencies and signatories on NPA or staff association bank accounts, staff loan accounts and safe custody holdings
• recipients of Australian government payments or debtors to the Australian government or its agencies (this information is collected for the purpose of providing payment and collection services to the Australian government or its agencies)
• staff of organisations involved in data provision to, or research and development activities in conjunction with or for the benefit of, the Bank
• staff of other vendors, suppliers and professional and other service providers to the Bank and of organisations tendering to provide goods or services to the Bank
• staff of the Bank's landlords and tenants
• individuals who make damaged banknote claims or submit suspected counterfeit banknotes
• individuals involved in cash movements (information is collected to identify, and verify the identity of, these individuals as having the required authority to carry out cash movements)
• individuals on sanctions lists
• visitors including individuals on official visits to the Bank from other agencies in Australia or overseas, Australian and overseas academics, staff of schools visiting the Bank, visitors to the H.C. Coombs Centre for Financial Studies and other visitors to the Bank's premises both in Australia and overseas
• individuals who register to access any secure website or portal hosted by the Bank
• media contacts
• contacts for the Bank's liaison programs
• individuals who undertake currency exchanges through Bank tellers or who have participated or been interested in numismatic sales
• speakers at and participants in conferences and workshops hosted or arranged by the Bank
• staff at schools and other educational institutions, other educators, members of the Bank's Educators Advisory Panel, students and other individuals with whom the Bank liaises in relation to its public education program
• staff in law enforcement agencies; and
• signatories signing on behalf of counterparties to contracts with the Bank.

The type of personal information we collect about each of these groups of people varies. In some limited instances (primarily people in the first three categories above) it includes sensitive information such as health information, membership of professional or trade associations and criminal record. In many cases where the Bank collects the personal information of executives or staff of another entity, the information is limited to business or professional contact details.

We may ask for personal information because we are required to collect it for legal reasons or to comply with one of our policies or procedures (for example, to check and verify the identity of an individual).

The Bank also collects the personal information of members of the public if they:

• request access to the Bank's archival records
• request other information or make a complaint
• ask to be placed on a mailing list
• make submissions to the Bank; or
• seek assistance from a Bank teller,

and it is not practicable to provide the requested access, information or assistance or accept the submission without having that personal information. Members of the public may be able to interact with us anonymously where this is lawful and practicable.

More information about how the Bank uses personal and other information collected via the Bank's main website is in the Bank's Personal Information Collection Notice for Website Visitors and App Users. Other websites hosted by the Bank through which personal information is collected have their own personal information collection notice.

When we collect your personal information we usually tell you how we are likely to use and disclose it unless that is obvious from the context in which it is collected. You can obtain more detailed information on these matters by contacting our Privacy Officer, or by reading the privacy notice that we give you when we collect your information.

Information about how the Bank collects and uses other (non-personal) information, such as traffic data, via cookies on the Bank's websites, is available at Cookies.

3. How We Collect Personal Information

If it is reasonable and practical to do so, we collect personal information directly from you. We may do this through application or other forms, over the telephone, the internet or in person. We may also need to collect personal information about you from other people. Sometimes this may happen without your direct involvement. For example, we may collect information about:

• staff in entities with which we deal from other staff within those entities
• vendors, suppliers, service providers and other contract counterparties or their office holders from company, business name and ABN searches of the relevant records held by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission or the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
• individuals who are recipients of Australian government payments or debtors to the Australian government or its agencies from the Australian government or the governmental agency to which the Bank is supplying the relevant payment or collection services
• individuals making damaged banknote claims from the financial institutions with which they lodge those claims; and
• job applicants from referees nominated by those applicants or from recruitment agencies, employment marketplaces or employment oriented social networking services such as LinkedIn.

4. Sharing Personal Information with Entities Overseas

The Reserve Bank discloses some personal information to entities outside Australia. For example:

• disclosure of personal information to foreign governments for the purpose of obtaining visas for staff travelling overseas on Bank business
• disclosure of certain information about staff in the Bank's overseas offices or on overseas secondments to tax authorities and/or service providers in the countries in which they are working and, in the case of secondees, to the organisation to which they are seconded
• disclosure of account and other details of the intended beneficiary of a payment to be made to an individual outside Australia to relevant financial institutions involved in processing the payment (and possibly, in limited circumstances, to regulatory bodies overseas); and
• exchange with an entity overseas of personal information of Bank staff and staff of that entity for the purpose of one of the Bank's functions or powers (for example to arrange and facilitate participation in international regulatory or currency forums and otherwise to engage with other central banks and financial sector supervisory agencies on matters of common interest, to engage in research and development activities with overseas entities or to obtain services from overseas suppliers).

It is not practicable to list all the countries potentially involved, but information is regularly shared for one or more of these purposes with entities in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Switzerland, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and New Zealand.

5. Security of Personal Information

The Bank is committed to protecting and securing the personal information it holds. We employ appropriate technical, administrative and physical procedures to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We limit access to personal information to staff with a legitimate need to use it consistent with the purpose for which the information was collected. The Bank's Code of Conduct requires Bank staff to take all reasonable steps to appropriately safeguard and protect personal information, and not to use personal information inappropriately.

6. Amendment of and Access to Personal Information

It is important that the personal information we collect is and remains accurate, complete and up-to-date. We encourage you to help us by telling us promptly if any of your personal information changes (for example you change your name, phone number or address).

You can ask for access to the personal information the Bank holds about you. You may ask us to correct our record of your personal information. If you wish to access any personal information the Bank holds about you, or amend or correct your personal information, you can forward your request to:

For access to or amendments to job applications:

For access to or amendment of any other personal information:

If the privacy notice we give you when we collect your personal information provides other contact details for an access or correction request then you can also use those contact details.

We ask that you identify the information requested as clearly as possible. We will deal with your request to provide access to or correction of your personal information within 30 days of receipt of your request.

In some situations permitted by law, the Bank may deny your request for access or correction. If we do this, we will tell you why.

You may also have rights to access your personal information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. More information is available at Freedom of Information.

7. Enquiries and Complaints

If you would like more information about the Bank's approach to privacy, or you think the Bank has breached the Australian Privacy Principles or you have any other concern about the way the Bank has handled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer by:

If you have concerns about the Reserve Bank's handling of any personal information we may ask you to put them in writing so that we can fully understand and investigate the issues you have raised.

If in a particular case an investigation of a complaint is required, the Bank will determine the form and timing of the investigation and the person to conduct the investigation having regard to:

• the general desirability of confidentiality of investigations into privacy matters
• the need to ensure that the investigation is conducted fairly
• the nature of the personal information and the concern that you have raised
• the desirability of conducting the process quickly and efficiently; and
• the need to ensure that the outcome of the investigation is accurate and reliable.

8. Further Information on Privacy

You can obtain further general information about your privacy rights and privacy law from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by:

• calling their Privacy Hotline on 1300 363 992
• visiting their website at https://www.oaic.gov.au
• writing to:
  
  The Australian Information Commissioner
  GPO Box 5218
  SYDNEY NSW 2001
  AUSTRALIA