Privacy

Privacy

Last Updated on April 1, 2023


KPMG is dedicated to protecting the confidentiality and privacy of information entrusted to it. As part of this fundamental obligation, KPMG is committed to the appropriate protection and use of personal information (sometimes referred to as “personal data”, "personally identifiable information" or "PII") that has been collected online.

Please review this Privacy Statement ("Privacy Statement") to learn more about how we collect, use, share and protect the personal information that we have obtained.

This privacy statement explains how KPMG collects and uses personal information online and describes the rights you have with respect to your personal information. This website is operated by KPMG Assurance and Consulting Services LLP. By using “KPMG”, “we” or “us” in this statement we mean “KPMG Assurance and Consulting Services LLP” a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited (“KPMG International”), a Private English Company limited by guarantee and its sub-licensees consisting of KPMG Advisory Services Private Limited; KPMG India Private Limited; KPMG India Services LLP; KPMG Valuation Services LLP; KPMG Restructuring Services LLP and KPMG Foundation.

How do we collect personal data?

Directly: We obtain personal data directly from individuals in a variety of ways, including obtaining personal data from individuals who provide us with their business card(s), complete our online forms, subscribe to our newsletters, and register for webinars, attend meetings or events we host, visit our offices or for recruitment purposes. We may also obtain personal data directly when, for example, we are establishing a business relationship, performing professional services through a contract, or through our hosted software applications.

Indirectly: We obtain personal data indirectly about individuals from a variety of sources, including recruitment services and our clients:

  • Public sources - Personal data may be obtained from news articles, sanctions lists, government intelligence, crime prevention agencies and internet searches.
  • Social and professional networking sites - If you register or login to our websites using social media (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, or Twitter) to authenticate your identity and connect your social media login information with us, we will collect information or content needed for the registration or login that you permitted your social media provider to share with us. That information may include your name and email address and depending on your privacy settings, additional details about you, so please review the privacy controls on the applicable social media websites to set how much information you want to be shared with us.
  • Business clients - Our business clients may engage us to perform professional services which involves sharing personal data they control as part of that engagement. For example, we will review payroll data as part of an audit and we often need to use personal data to provide global mobility and pension services. Our services may also include processing personal data under our clients’ control on our hosted software applications, which may be governed by different privacy terms, policies and notices.
  • Recruitment services - We may obtain personal data about candidates from an employment agency, and other parties including former employers, and credit reference agencies.

What categories of personal data do we collect?

We may obtain the following categories of personal data about individuals through direct interactions with us, or from information provided through client engagements, from applicants, our suppliers and through other situations including those described in this Privacy Statement.

Personal data: Here is a list of personal data we commonly collect to conduct our business activities.

  • Contact details (e.g., name, company name, job title, work and mobile telephone numbers, work and personal email and postal address).
  • Professional details (e.g., job and career history, educational background and professional memberships, published articles).
  • CCTV at our sites may collect images of visitors. Our policy is to automatically overwrite CCTV footage within 30 days.

Sensitive personal data: We typically do not collect sensitive or special categories of personal data about individuals other than our own employees. In some circumstances it is necessary for KPMG to process sensitive personal data of our employees and other third parties. Other than where such personal data is made public by the individual themselves, such processing would only be undertaken as necessary for KPMG to exercise its rights and obligations as an employer (including for occupational health purposes), protect the vital interests of individuals, establish or defend legal claims or with the explicit consent of the individual(s) concerned.  Examples of sensitive personal data we may obtain, or otherwise hold, include:

  • Personal identification documents that may reveal race, religion or ethnic origin, possibly biometric data of individuals, beneficial owners of corporate entities, or applicants.
  • Adverse information about potential or existing clients/ third parties and applicants that may reveal criminal convictions or offences information.
  • Information provided to us by our clients in the course of a professional engagement.
  • Diversity and equal opportunity information voluntarily shared by applicants  as part of recruitment processes.
  • Health data where the processing is necessary to assess, monitor and control the spread of infectious diseases and to provide a safe environment for our employees, clients and suppliers.

Child data: Our sites are not intentionally designed for or directed at children under the age of 13. It is our policy never to knowingly collect or maintain information about anyone under the age of 13, except as part of an engagement to provide professional services. Although we do not intentionally collect information from individuals under 13 years of age, we may occasionally receive details about children attending performances and other events we host with their parents or guardians.

Location-based data: We may process geographical locations of your computer or mobile device. This location data is collected for the purpose of providing you with information regarding services which we believe may be of interest to you based on your geographic location, and to improve our location-based products and services.

What legal grounds do we have for processing your personal information?

We may rely on the following lawful reasons when we collect and use personal data to operate our business and provide our products and services:

Contract - We may process personal data in order to perform our contractual obligations owed to (or to enter into a contract with) the relevant individuals.

Consent - We may rely on your freely given consent at the time you provided your personal data to us. You may withdraw and/or modify your consent at any time by contacting us at in-fmdataprivacy@kpmg.com.

Legitimate interests – We may rely on legitimate interests based on our evaluation that the processing is fair, reasonable and balanced. These may include:

  • Delivering services to our clients – To deliver the professional services our clients have engaged us to provide including information on new products and services.
  • Direct marketing – To conduct and analyse our marketing activities.  To deliver timely market insights and speciality knowledge including tailor-made online experience we believe is welcomed by our business clients, subscribers and individuals who have interacted with us.
  • Monitor our IT systems - Prevent fraud or criminal activity and protect our IT systems.
  • Corporate responsibility - Comply with our corporate and corporate social responsibility commitments.

Legal obligations – We may process personal data in order to meet our legal and regulatory obligations or mandates.

Public Interest – We may process personal data in order to perform a specific task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us.

Vital Interests – We may process personal data to protect the vital interests of the individual or another natural person.  

Why do we need personal data?

We aspire to be transparent when we collect and use personal data and tell you why we need it, which typically includes:

  • Providing professional advice. Our services may include reviewing client files for quality assurance purposes, which may involve processing personal data for the relevant client.
  • Promoting our professional services, products and capabilities to existing and prospective business clients.
  • Sending invitations and providing access to guests attending our events and webinars or our sponsored events.
  • Personalising online landing pages and communications we think would be of interest based on interactions with us and KPMG member firms.
  • Administering, maintaining and ensuring the security of our information systems, applications and websites.
  • Authenticating registered users to certain areas of our sites.
  • Seeking qualified candidates, and forwarding candidate career inquiries to our People team, which may be governed by different privacy terms and policies.
  • Processing online requests, including responding to communications from individuals or requests for proposals and quotations.
  • Complying with legal and regulatory obligations relating to anti-money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and other forms of financial crime.
  • Compiling health and safety data (directly or indirectly) following an incident or accident. Indirect data can take many forms including an incident report, first aider report, witness statements and CCTV footage.
  • Collecting health data to assess, monitor and control spread of infectious diseases and to provide a safe environment for our employees, clients and suppliers.

Do we share personal data with third parties?

We may occasionally share personal data with trusted third parties to help us deliver efficient and quality services. These recipients are contractually bound to safeguard the data we entrust to them. We may engage with several or all of the following categories of recipients:

  • KPMG member firms, where necessary for administrative purposes and to provide professional services to our clients (e.g., when providing services involving advice from KPMG member firms in different territories).
  • Parties that support us as we provide our services (e.g., providers of telecommunication systems, mailroom support, IT system support, archiving services, document production services and cloud-based software services).
  • Professional advisers, including lawyers, auditors and insurers.
  • Parties that support as with anti-money laundering, client conflicts and independence checks.
  • Law enforcement or other government and regulatory agencies or to other third parties as required by, and in accordance with, applicable law or regulation.
  • Health government bodies and external service providers  to assess, monitor and control the spread of infectious diseases.
  • Payment, marketing and recruitment services providers.

KPMG will not transfer the personal information you provide to any third parties for their own direct marketing use.

Do we transfer your personal data outside India?

We may store personal data on servers located outside India. We may transfer personal data to KPMG International, KPMG member firms, and third-party organisations situated inside or outside India,when we have a business reason to engage these organisations. Each organisation is required to safeguard personal data in accordance with our contractual obligations and applicable data protection legislation.

How we use Cookies?

Cookies may be placed on your computer or internet-enabled device whenever you visit us online. This allows the site to remember your computer or device and serves a number of purposes.

On some of our web sites, a notification banner will appear requiring your consent to collect cookies. If you do not provide consent, your computer or internet-enabled device will not be tracked for marketing-related activities. A secondary type of cookie referred to as "user-input" cookies may still be required for necessary functionality. Such cookies will not be blocked using this notification banner. Your selection will be saved in a cookie and is valid for a period of 90 days. If you wish to revoke your selection, you may do so by clearing your browser's cookies.

Although most browsers automatically accept cookies, you can choose whether or not to accept cookies via your browser's settings (often found in your browser's Tools or Preferences menu). You may also delete cookies from your device at any time. However, please be aware that if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to fully experience some of our web sites' features.

Further information about managing cookies can be found in your browser's help file or through sites such as www.allaboutcookies.org.

Below is a list of the types of cookies used on our web sites:

Purpose

Description

Type & Expiry

Performance (i.e., User's Browser)

Our web sites are built using common internet platforms. These have built-in cookies which help compatibility issues (e.g., to identify your browser type) and improve performance (e.g., quicker loading of content).

Session

Deleted upon closing the browser

Security (e.g. Asp .NET) Cookies

If you register for access to a restricted area, our cookies ensure that your device is logged for the duration of your visit. You will need your username and password to access the restricted areas. 

Session

Deleted upon closing the browser

Site Preferences

Our cookies may also remember your site preferences (e.g., language) or seek to enhance your experience (e.g., by personalizing a greeting or content). This will apply to areas where you have registered specifically for access or create an account. 

Session

Deleted upon closing the browser

Analytical 

We use several third-party analytics tools to help us understand how site visitors use our web site. This allows us to improve the quality and content on kpmg.com for our visitors. The aggregated statistical data cover items such as total visits or page views, and referrers to our web sites. For further details on our use of Google Analytics, see below.

Persistent, but will delete automatically after two years if you no longer visit kpmg.com

Site visitor feedback

We use a third-party survey tool to invite a percentage of visitors to provide their feedback. Cookies are used to prevent visitors from being invited multiple times.

The first cookie (1) is set if the visitor is not invited to participate in the survey and is used to ensure visitors are not invited after their first page view.

The second cookie (2) is set if the visitor is invited to participate in the survey and is used to ensure the visitor is not invited again to participate for a period of 90 days.

1 Session
Deleted upon closing the browser

2 Persistent
Deleted automatically after 90 days or presenting survey invite.

Social sharing

We use third party social media widgets or buttons to provide you with additional functionality to share content from our web pages to social media websites and email. Use of these widgets or buttons may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use, ensure your interaction is displayed on our webpages (e.g., the social share count cache is updated) and log information about your activities across the Internet and on our web sites. We encourage you to review each provider's privacy information before using any such service. For further details on our use of social media widgets and applications, 

Persistent, but will be deleted automatically after two years if you no longer visit kpmg.com

 

What are your data protection rights?

Access – You can ask us to verify whether we are processing personal data about you, and if so, to provide more specific information.

Correction – You can ask us to correct our records if you believe they contain incorrect or incomplete information about you.

Erasure – You can ask us to erase (delete) your personal data after you withdraw your consent to processing or when we no longer need it for the purpose it was originally collected.

Right to Object to Direct Marketing including Profiling – You can object to our use of your personal data for direct marketing purposes, including profiling. We may need to keep some minimal information to comply with your request to cease marketing to you.

Right to Withdraw Consent – You can withdraw your consent that you have previously given to one or more specified purposes to process your personal data. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. It may mean we are not able to provide certain products or services to you and we will advise you if this is the case. If you would like to exercise your Data Subject Rights, you can email in-fmdataprivacy@kpmg.com. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information or to exercise any of your other rights. This helps us to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. No fee is required to make a request unless your request is clearly unfounded or excessive. Depending on the circumstances, we may be unable to comply with your request based on other lawful grounds.

What about personal data security?

We have put appropriate technical and organisational security policies and procedures in place to protect personal data (including sensitive personal data) from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction. We aim to ensure that access to your personal data is limited only to those who need to access it. Those individuals who have access to the data are required to maintain the confidentiality of such information. We may apply pseudonymisation, de-identification and anonymisation techniques in efforts to further protect personal data.

If you have access to parts of our websites or use our services, you remain responsible for keeping your user ID and password confidential. Please be aware that the transmission of data via the Internet is not completely secure. Whilst we do our best to try to protect the security of your personal data, we cannot ensure or guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk.

How long do we retain personal data?

We retain personal data to provide our services, stay in contact with you and to comply with applicable laws, regulations and professional obligations that we are subject to. Unless a different time frame applies as a result of business need or specific legal, regulatory or contractual requirements, where we retain personal data in accordance with these purposes, we retain such personal data as per policy of the firm.

Do we link to other websites?

Our websites may contain links to other sites, including sites maintained by other KPMG member firms that are not governed by this Privacy Statement. Please review the destination websites’ privacy notices before submitting personal data on those sites. Whilst we try to link only to sites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content, security, or privacy practices employed by other sites.

Who can you contact for privacy questions or concerns?

If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Statement or how we handle personal data, please direct your correspondence to Firm’s Data Privacy Functional Mailbox on email in-fmdataprivacy@kpmg.com aim to respond within 30 days from the date we receive privacy-related communications.

If you are not satisfied with the response that you received, you may also contact the Firm’s Privacy Liaison at in-fmprivacyliaison@kpmg.com