The Institute of Financial Operations values the privacy of its members, customer, and stakeholders and is strongly committed to each constituent’s right to privacy while engaging with The Institute. This privacy policy has been developed as a codification of The Institute’s commitment in this area. The privacy policy explains The Institute’s information gathering and handling practices. If you have any questions regarding this privacy policy or do not feel that your concerns have been otherwise addressed, contact us via email at web@financialops.org.
Consent
By doing business with The Institute and using The Institute’s website, you signify your acceptance of our privacy policy. If you, as a visitor, choose to log on as a member or customer, register for courses or events, purchase products, apply for membership or certification, or otherwise submit personally identifiable information, you are consenting to The Institute’s use of such data in accordance with its privacy policy.
Scope
It is the intent of The Institute to be in compliance with internationally recognized principles regarding privacy of data. This policy guides how The Institute stores and uses personal information that is collected or provided, whether through our website or by other methods such as an application, enrollment, registration form, order form, or other means.
Membership and Customer Identity Number and Password
All individual members and customers of The Institute (not corporations) are entered into the global membership database and are assigned a unique identification number and password. This unique identification number is accessible in the member or customer profile.
Collection and Use of Information
Even if you do nothing during your visit other than navigate the website, read pages, or download information, we will automatically gather and store certain information about your visit. In order to ensure our website is as useful and effective an information source as it can be, we analyze information that identifies visitors by categories such as the location of visitors (by domain, not by personal e-mail address) and browser types. We also measure, in the aggregate, indicators such as number of visits, average time spent on the site, and pages viewed. The Institute uses these statistics to improve site content and usability; this information does not identify visitors personally.
However, when a visitor enters membership information for the purpose of logging in to restricted pages, a “temporary cookie” is deployed. This cookie – a small text file stored temporarily on the visitor’s browser – enables the website to “remember” this authentication information during movement from one page to another. This makes it unnecessary to log in again on each page. The cookie will expire when the visitor leaves and no personal data is retained. In addition, to help prevent unauthorized users from using your identifying information, the cookie will expire if your session is idle for approximately 20 minutes. If you have set your Internet browser to reject cookies, access may be denied to secured areas of The Institute’s website during a session.
With the exception of specific secured pages, visitors are not required to be members of The Institute to gain access to our website, although nonmembers may be required to register to receive all benefits available to users of the site.
The Institute may use personally identifiable information you have voluntarily provided on our website, or by other means, to notify you via e-mail or printed material of our events or other relevant products and services. We may produce a directory of members for networking purposes. If you do not want to receive notice of such events or be included in directories, you may choose to opt out by the means detailed in the “Opting Out” section of this policy.
Collection of Personal Data from Third-party Sources
In order to reduce errors in our database, authenticate our users and prevent abuse of our system, we may on occasion supplement the personal information you submit to us with information from third-party sources. For example, we may supplement your registration information with address information provided by the United States Postal Service to qualify your information and prevent errors in our database.
Financial Information
The collection of any financial details (credit or debit card numbers) through our web site for payment of products and services is encrypted and passed to PayPal for transactional processing. We do not store any of these financial details in our company database or records.
Disclosure of Information to Third PartiesIf you voluntarily provide The Institute with personally identifiable information, we may release that information on a selective basis to outside organizations whose products and services are of perceived benefit. These organizations include, but are not limited to:
- Various companies that authenticate credit cards on behalf of The Institute if you provide a credit card for the purchase of products or services.
- If you register as a certification candidate, to Kryterion, the exam provider.
- The Institute’s chapters, which may solicit you for local participation or membership.
- For publication in a member directory or to use your data to mail or e-mail local materials, unless you contact us or opt out of such disclosure.
There are other instances in which The Institute may divulge your personal information. We may provide your personal information, if necessary, in our good faith judgment, to comply with laws or regulations of a governmental or regulatory body or in response to a valid subpoena, warrant or order or to protect the rights of The Institute or others.
Right of Access
The Institute is dedicated to providing reasonable access to members and others who want to review their personal information maintained by The Institute to correct any inaccuracies therein. Members may view and update their data by accessing their member profile, available upon logging into the website. Nonmembers may verify and/or change their data by e-mailing us at web@financialops.org or writing to The Institute of Financial Operations 3319 Maguire Boulevard, Suite 125, Orlando, FL 32803, USA. The Institute, however, is not responsible for verifying the continued accuracy of either member or nonmember information.
Security
Although The Institute does not monitor the website, we have reasonable policies in place to protect from misuse the personally identifiable information provided by its users.
Links
The Institute’s website contain links to other third-party sites, including sites operated by The Institute’s chapters. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the accuracy, timeliness, security, or continued availability or existence of this outside information. Opinions expressed on other sites linked from The Institute’s website are not necessarily those of The Institute, nor do we endorse, warrant, or guarantee products or services described or offered on other sites. The Institute is not responsible for the contents of any websites that choose to link to The Institute’s website with or without The Institute’s consent.
Other organizations linked to The Institute’s website may collect information about you when you view or click on these sites. We cannot control this collection of information. You should contact these organizations directly if you have any questions about their use of the information they collect.
Changes to Privacy Policy
The Institute reserves the right to modify or amend this privacy policy at any time and for any reason. Nothing contained herein is intended to create a contract or agreement between The Institute and any other party. The users of The Institute’s website should reference this policy periodically to ensure that they have knowledge of the current provisions of this privacy policy.
Opting In and Opting out of the Release of Personal Information
Members and customers are entered into the membership database and given the choice to opt-out of receiving communications from The Institute or their local chapter through their personal profile or by contacting us at web@financialops.org.
If you choose to provide The Institute with personally identifiable information by purchasing a product, registering for an event, or requesting other services, The Institute may use that information to provide you with the purchased products or services, for billing purposes, to send immediately relevant information to you, for other purposes related to the reason you provided the information, and may release that information on a selective basis to outside sponsoring organizations even if you opt out of receiving communications from The Institute by the means detailed in this privacy policy.
Privacy-Related Inquiries and Complaints
The Institute takes its users’ privacy concerns seriously. If you believe The Institute has not complied with this online privacy policy with respect to your personal information, or you have other related inquiries or concerns, you may e-mail us at web@financialops.org.
In your e-mail, please describe in as much detail as possible the nature of your inquiry or the ways in which you believe that The Institute’s online privacy policy has not been complied with. Please note if you provide The Institute with inconsistent privacy preferences (for example, by indicating on one occasion that third parties may contact you with marketing offers and indicating on another occasion that they may not), The Institute cannot guarantee your most recent privacy preference will be honored.