Privacy 
Policy

Under the Privacy Act, personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. Personal information includes any details or opinions about you that can reasonably identify you, such as your name, address, phone number, tax file number, email address, employment details (including salary), and date of birth. It also covers information about your beneficiaries, spouse, and other family members, especially when you nominate a beneficiary or in relation to a claim. 

Hostplus collects personal information only when it is necessary to carry out our functions and services. This includes establishing and managing your superannuation account, assessing your eligibility for insurance cover, delivering member benefits, products and services, verifying your identity, preventing fraud, providing financial advice and enhancing our services and offerings, including for research and marketing purposes.

Hostplus also collects personal information from employment candidates such as employment history, contact details and other information, either directly or through recruiters, for recruitment purposes. Similarly, Hostplus collects and holds personal information about its employees to enable payroll, travel and other administrative processes associated with employment at Hostplus.

After you have ceased to be a member, we may use your information to conduct research aimed at understanding member experiences and identifying opportunities to improve our products and services in accordance with regulatory guidance. We may also continue to use your personal information for a reasonable period after you have ceased to be a member to provide information about your options, changes to our products and services, or opportunities to re‑engage with Hostplus. You may opt out of receipt of further marketing communications from Hostplus at any time (see further information under Direct marketing below).

We collect personal information by lawful and reasonable means and aim to do so in a way that does not intrude on your privacy.

Where practical, we collect personal information directly from you via forms, over the phone or via our website and mobile application. We also receive employment-related information from your employer and personal information of yours from government agencies such as the Australian Tax Office (ATO), law enforcement authorities. In some cases, our authorised service providers may collect personal information on our behalf in accordance with our privacy standards.

In addition, we may also collect your personal information in a range of ways, including:

• When you visit or register on our website or access Online Member services
• When you enter a competition, respond to a survey, participate in a member research or take part in a promotion
• When you engage with features or services via our social media channels
• When you download and use our mobile apps or digital content
• When you speak with our staff, either in person or over the phone
• When you contact us via email or send us written communication.

If you make an application for insurance or make a claim on your existing insurance:

• The relevant insurer may collect personal information from or about you to assist with the assessment and administration of your insurance claim.
  
• The relevant insurer may also pass information to third parties. This will be set out in the relevant insurer’s privacy policy.
• If your insurance application or claim is declined and you take legal action or complain to an external dispute resolution body, Hostplus, or the relevant insurer may provide your personal details and information about your application or claim to legal representatives of Hostplus, officers of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and Court officials, as required.

As a regulated superannuation trustee and provider of financial products and services, Hostplus may use the personal information wecollect about you to carry out our functions and activities.

We may also use your personal information for a secondary purpose if it is related to the purposes outlined above, where you have provided consent, or where allowed under the Privacy Act.

Certain information like your TFN is required for taxation and superannuation purposes. Your TFN also allows us to look for other super accounts you may have lost track of, or super money that has been transferred to the ATO. We must obtain consent from you prior to using your TFN to search or other superannuation accounts you may have to consolidate your super.

We’ll use your personal information to keep you up to date with news, offers and insights about our products and services, including for a reasonable period after ceasing to be a member with us. In doing so, we follow the Privacy Act, the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth) and any other laws that apply.

You’re in control of what you receive. If you’d rather not get our direct marketing, you can:

• Log in to your account online and update your communication preferences
  
• Contact us using the details in this policy
  
• Click the unsubscribe or opt-out link in any marketing email or SMS.

We partner with carefully selected third parties to help deliver our messages across social media and other digital channels. Before we share your information, we take all reasonable steps to keep it secure and/or anonymous. In many cases, we’ll remove sensitive information, such as personal identifiers so the data we pass on is de-identified. We don’t use sensitive information for marketing unless you’ve given us your explicit consent.

We use cookies and similar technologies, such as tags and tracking pixels, to gather information about how you use our sites and apps and to understand customer demographics. This helps us make the website more user-friendly and fine-tune the advertising campaigns we run on other platforms.

Cookies are small text files stored on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They remember details like your location, language preference and other settings to make your browsing smoother. Cookies can also store your IP address.

Some cookies are session-based and disappear when you close your browser, while others remain on your device for a set period.

You’re always in control of cookies. You can change your browser settings to:

• Acceptor refuse all cookies
• Delete cookies from specific websites
• Block third-party cookies

Check your browser’s help section for step-by-step instructions on how to manage these settings.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties where we are permitted or required to do so by law. This may include but not limited to disclosure tothe following entities related to us:

• our administrators, custodians, insurers, investment managers, and other service providers, such as IT, printing, mailing, identity verification, marketing and research providers, actuaries, or legal advisers etc
  
• your employeror former employers
• other superannuation funds or KiwiSaver providers
• health, medical and other relevant professionals (in connection with an insurance application or claim)
• financial institutions and clearing houses
• your authorised representatives, such as your power of attorney, financial adviser, or legal representatives
• government agencies and regulators such as APRA, ASIC, ATO, AUSTRAC and Centrelink
• external dispute resolution schemes and statutory bodies, such as AFCA or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
• your spouse or former spouse as required by a court order under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)
• any relevant third-party provider where our website or app uses plugins, advertising, or contents. We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of those providers before engaging with their services
• any party, law enforcement agency or court, where required or authorised by law
• referees, recruitment and employment service providers (if you apply for a role with Hostplus)
• payroll, employee engagement platforms, technology, travel and accommodation providers (if you are employed by Hostplus.

Where we engage service providers to perform business activities for us, they are only permitted to use your personal information for the specific purpose for which we disclose it to them, and they must comply with strict confidentiality and privacy obligations under the Privacy Act.