Privacy policy

This policy explains what personal data we collect through this website, why we collect it, how long we keep it and what your rights are. We keep data collection to the minimum needed to run the website and answer your enquiries.

Who we are

This website is run by Private Equity Systems Limited, 216 Wards Wharf Approach, London, E16 2EQ, United Kingdom (Registered in England and Wales, company number 07193494; registered office as above). We are the controller of the personal data described in this policy.

You can contact us about privacy at contactus (at) privateequitysystems.com.

What we collect

When you contact us

If you use our contact form, we collect your name, email address and message and, if you choose to give them, your phone number, organisation, what you are interested in and what type of contact you are (for example the kind of firm you work for). We keep your enquiry in a secure database on our UK-hosted server and send it to our team by email. If you email or phone us, we receive whatever details you share with us.

When you use the client area

If your firm is our client, we may invite you to our client area. We then hold your name and work email address, and any job title and phone number you add, your role in your firm’s account, your email preferences, and records of your sign-ins (date, time and a shortened IP address) to keep your account secure. Your password is stored only in a protected, one-way form. If you turn on two-factor sign-in, we store the secret your authenticator app uses. The client area also holds your firm’s licences, invoices and billing details.

When you visit the website

Our hosting provider automatically records standard server logs, including your IP address, the date and time of your visit, the page requested and your browser type. These logs are used to keep the website secure and working.

To protect the website from abuse, we count requests, sign-in attempts and messages from each connection and set limits on them. For this we keep only a one-way hash of your IP address, with a count and a time. It cannot be turned back into your IP address, and it is deleted automatically within a day of the limit period ending (at most 48 hours).

We count visits to understand how the website is used, with our own simple analytics run on our server. For each page view we record the page, the date and time, the website you came from (if any), campaign tags in the link, your device type, browser and operating system, and your country. We do not use cookies or anything else stored on your device for this, and we do not store your IP address: it is used only while the page loads, to work out your country and to make a visitor code that changes every day. That code cannot be turned back into your address or used to recognise you on another day. Search engines and other automated visitors are not counted.

We do not use advertising or third-party tracking tools, and we do not load any third-party content on this website.

How we use it and our lawful basis

• To reply to your enquiry and any follow-up conversation. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us, or taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.
• To run your client area account, including sending the invoice, renewal and insights emails you choose. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in providing services to our clients and managing our contracts with them; you can change your email choices at any time under My account.
• To understand how the website is used, through the analytics described above, so we can improve it. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in running a useful website; the analytics collect as little as possible and cannot identify you.
• To keep the website secure, including preventing spam and abuse. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in protecting our website and our visitors.
• To meet legal obligations, where the law requires us to keep or disclose information.

We do not use your data for marketing unless you have asked us to, we do not sell it, and we do not use it for automated decision-making or profiling.

Who we share it with

We share personal data only where needed:

• with our website hosting provider, British Hosting, which hosts the website in the UK;
• with our email provider, which stores the messages we receive;
• with authorities or professional advisers where the law requires it or to protect our legal rights.

Our providers act on our instructions and must keep your data secure.

International transfers

Your data is held in the UK. If we ever need to transfer data elsewhere, we will use appropriate safeguards required by law.

How long we keep it

• Enquiries: for as long as we need to deal with your enquiry and any follow-up, then we delete them.
• Client area accounts: while your firm is our client and you have access. When your access is removed, your account is deleted.
• Analytics: individual page views for 30 days; after that only daily totals (for example, page views per page or per country) for 13 months.
• IP address hashes used for rate limits: deleted within a day of the limit period ending (at most 48 hours).
• Server logs: for the limited period our hosting provider keeps them for security purposes.

Cookies

This website sets only strictly necessary cookies, for the contact form and for signing in to the client area. See our cookies policy for details.

Links to other websites

This website links to other sites, such as our social media pages and a map of our office. We do not control those sites, and their own privacy policies apply once you visit them.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law (and the EU GDPR, where it applies), you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
• ask us to correct data that is wrong or incomplete;
• ask us to delete your data;
• ask us to restrict how we use your data;
• object to our use of your data where we rely on legitimate interests;
• ask us to transfer your data to you or another organisation, where this applies.

To use any of these rights, email contactus (at) privateequitysystems.com. We will reply within one month. There is normally no charge.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please tell us first so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy if the way we handle personal data changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.