Should I expect a financial adviser to keep my finances confidential?

SonOf

Whilst I am leaning towards a breach, we still cannot be sure.

1 - The OP appears to have never said that their affairs were separate and should not be disclosed to each other.
2 - It is common for firms to contact a client if they receive an instruction to draw money out via email. Particularly large ones that are unexpected. A phone call to the individual would then take place. If the adviser has never been told the spouse is not to know about finances then verifying it with the spouse would not be unusual or unexpected. The adviser is looking to avoid fraud. So, if the spouse says something along the lines of "my wife is out at the moment but yes it's ok as she is looking to put a deposit on a property, then the adviser knows it is a genuine transaction and can proceed. Small talk may then continue or the adviser may probe for more info to update their records on their situation.
3 - There has been nothing written to suggest the OP has mentioned to the adviser the previous times that "joint" communications took place and she didn't want it. So, again, if the adviser has not been told then they would not know.

More than anything else, this comes down to communication. The presumption is that a married couple act together in planning, even if their bank accounts are sole unless told otherwise by either party.

Even if this is a breach, it is not a major one unless the adviser knew not to disclose. It's not going to result in a fine and the adviser firm can just apologise saying it didn't know that the OP wanted secrecy from the husband and offer a goodwill gesture of £25 for the inconvenience.

DunnersO

OP - Nobody on here is going to be able to give you a definitive answer to your question of whether this is a breach of GDPR. That would need to be determined by the ICO following a formal complaint. However...


In my line of work I am responsible for handling lots of sensitive data. I've already had to learn the hard way about the new GDPR guidelines. If it came to my attention that someone in my company had conducted themselves in the manner you have described of your FA, I'd be very worried.

veryintrigued

notbrokeyet wrote: »

My husband and I use the same financial adviser. Our finances are separate though, and we have separate accounts.
The adviser has sent us a joint statement of performance of our investments.
I did not give permission to share my financial affairs with my husband and I am not happy that he assumed this was ok.
There are no problems between me and my husband, but that is not the point, it’s the principle I object to.
My husband thinks I am being unreasonable and making a mountain out of a molehill.
Is there a code of ethics regarding confidentiality for financial advisers?

Did you read what assets your husband had or upon spotting them there immediately close the statement?

veryintrigued

As an aside just spotted this.

There's worse advice out there....

https://www.thenottingham.com/news/how-to-manage-your-money-as-a-couple-in-9-steps/?fbclid=IwAR0HKxI6oCJoW0rFP1LzImUHbGsvM_p7PTVhjr9LzfgH3ncFoLEhISn5vS0

notbrokeyet

I don’t see the relevance of whether I did or not

notbrokeyet

Thanks for the replies, though the thread went off piste as divorce had nothing to do with it.
It seems that it is a grey area with no clear answer.
I plan to discuss this with the adviser and go elsewhere if he cannot assure me that it won’t happen again.
All I’m aiming to do is to retain control of my own finances

Sea_Shell

How can a couple make plans for their futures together if all their finances are "secret"??. I can understand some couples wanting to keep finances separate, but secret....that's asking for trouble IMO.

You'd basically be saying to an IFA, "please deal with me as if I were a single person". Ignore any benefits of us being married, or include our Joint assets in any planning.

If I were an IFA i'd be very wary about dealing with someone in this way, as part of "know your customer" would be thrown out of the window, and they aren't ABLE to give you the best advise for your real circumstances i.e. MARRIED!!

If its a long marriage they are JOINT assets, whether you think of them that way or not!!

steampowered

Even if it was a breach of GDPR, that doesn't mean you'd be entitled to compensation.

As I see it you have two options:

1) Make it clear to your financial adviser that you do not want any information disclosed to your husband.

2) Move to a different financial adviser.

[Deleted User]

Have you given explicit consent for your records being divulged to your husband. (implicit is not good enough)
You won't get compensation from the data regulator - the IFA will and should be fined (of between 2 and 4% of turnover). If you have informed the IFA of this breach - the IFA themselves should notify the regulator that there has been a breach.

Malthusian

notbrokeyet wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, though the thread went off piste as divorce had nothing to do with it.

The bit that has something to do with it is that all a married couple's assets are effectively joint assets regardless of how they do their domestic budgeting.

Even if they don't actually divorce, there are other planning implications with allowances, exemptions for CGT on transfers between each other, inheritance, etc. If the couple wants to ignore all these because they want to keep their finances separate, this must be disclosed upfront and documented by the adviser in case they or the regulator later asks "why didn't you use my spouse's ISA / CGT allowance" or similar.

Sea_Shell wrote: »

How can a couple make plans for their futures together if all their finances are "secret"??

It is far from uncommon. It is perfectly possible, they usually just end up paying voluntary tax.

If I were an IFA i'd be very wary about dealing with someone in this way, as part of "know your customer" would be thrown out of the window, and they aren't ABLE to give you the best advise for your real circumstances i.e. MARRIED!!

It's part of life if you're an IFA. In a case like this where you know both spouses' finances, you just can't disclose them to the other, there is no KYC problem. You just have to explain exactly why you potentially aren't giving the best advice.