Advisor Advisory Inc. (“Advisor Advisory”, “we”, “us” or “our”) operates the Advisor Advisory platform at https://advisoradvisory.ca (and related domains, the “Site”). Advisor Advisory is a federally incorporated Canadian company that provides an online directory and information platform where clients can discover, compare and connect with licensed investment advisors.
Clients can search for advisors, view profiles, leave reviews and contact advisors through web forms. Advisors can create free or premium profiles, upload biographies, credentials and other documents, and respond to client inquiries. We may display advertisements or sponsored content on the Site, and advisors may subscribe to paid plans for premium features. We do not provide financial, investment, legal or tax advice, and we do not participate in or facilitate financial transactions between clients and advisors.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share the personal information of clients, advisors and visitors (collectively, “users”) who use our services. It describes your rights under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and any substantially similar provincial laws. PIPEDA is Canada’s federal privacy law that regulates how private-sector organizations handle personal information in the course of commercial activities. Provincial privacy laws in British Columbia, Alberta and Québec offer similar protections and may apply to personal information collected within those provinces.
This policy applies regardless of where you reside, including where personal information is collected, used or disclosed across provincial or national borders.
By using our Site or services, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
Account and profile details.
When you create an account (either as a client or advisor), we collect information such as your name, email address and password. Advisors also provide professional information such as licences and registrations, certifications, designations, areas of specialty, professional bios, education and work history, and may upload documents (for example, brochures, PDFs) and photographs (such as headshots and firm logos).
Contact and communication data.
If you fill out a contact form, request information or interact with us by email, chat or other channels, we collect the information you provide, such as your name, email address, phone number and message content. When clients contact advisors through the Site, we relay the content of those messages to the selected advisor.
Reviews and other user-generated content.
Clients can submit reviews and ratings about advisors. Reviews may include ratings, comments, and any other information you choose to provide. You are responsible for what you submit. Please do not post confidential or sensitive personal information about yourself or others.
Subscription, billing and payment details.
Advisors who subscribe to premium plans provide payment information such as name, billing address and payment card details. Payments are processed by third-party payment processors; we do not store full credit card numbers on our servers. We may store the last four digits of your card, card type and expiry date as provided by our payment processor for record-keeping, invoicing, refund and fraud prevention purposes.
Support, feedback and surveys.
If you contact us for support or provide feedback, suggestions or respond to surveys, we collect the information you provide, including any personal information contained in those communications.
Usage and device information.
Some of this information alone may not identify you, but we treat it as personal information when it can be associated with an identifiable individual.
Cookies and similar technologies.
We use cookies, web beacons, pixels and similar technologies to operate our Site, remember your preferences, analyze how the Site is used and deliver advertisements and sponsored content. For more details, see Section 6 (“Cookies and tracking technologies”).
Advisor verification and public sources.
Verification is performed, if at all, at or around the time of registration or when an advisor requests certain features. Verification is a point-in-time snapshot only; we do not monitor advisor licence status in real time and we assume no ongoing duty to update this status unless we are notified of a change.
Analytics and advertising partners.
We receive aggregated and de-identified reports from analytics providers about Site traffic and performance (for example, page views, conversion rates). Advertising partners may provide us with information about ad impressions, clicks and conversions so we can measure campaign effectiveness.
We collect, use and disclose personal information only for purposes that are identified at or before the time of collection, or as otherwise permitted or required by law.
Advisor Advisory uses personal information for the following purposes:
To provide and improve our services.
We use account and usage information to operate, maintain and improve the Site, including:
To facilitate communication.
We relay client inquiries to advisors and notify clients when advisors respond. We may send transactional communications such as confirmations, receipts, administrative messages, account alerts, password reset emails, renewal notices and service-related announcements.
To verify advisors and maintain trust.
Where we perform any verification, we may use advisor information to confirm professional credentials and eligibility to be listed. However, verification is a point-in-time snapshot only, and advisors remain solely responsible for keeping their licensing and regulatory status accurate and current.
To process payments and manage subscriptions (including refunds).
We use subscription and payment information to:
Payments are handled by third-party payment processors subject to their own privacy policies.
To personalize content, advertising and user experience.
We may use cookies, usage data and approximate location (for example, province or city) to remember your preferences and deliver relevant content, such as:
We follow guidance from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) regarding online behavioural advertising, including using opt-out consent where appropriate and limiting information used for ads to non-sensitive categories.
To conduct research and analytics.
We analyze how users interact with the Site to:
For automated tools and moderation.
We may use automated tools (including machine-learning systems) to help detect spam, abusive content, fake accounts, fraudulent reviews or other violations of our Terms. These tools assist our human review process but do not make binding legal decisions about users.
For security and fraud prevention.
We monitor activity to prevent misuse of the Site, detect fraud, investigate suspicious activity, and protect the security of user accounts.
To comply with legal and regulatory obligations.
We may use or disclose personal information as needed to:
We will not use personal information for purposes beyond those described in this policy without obtaining your consent or as otherwise required or permitted by law.
We follow PIPEDA’s Fair Information Principles, including accountability, identifying purposes, obtaining consent, limiting collection, limiting use/disclosure/retention, ensuring accuracy, safeguarding personal information, openness, individual access and providing mechanisms to challenge compliance.
Consent.
We obtain meaningful consent before collecting, using or disclosing personal information, except where otherwise permitted or required by law. Consent may be:
We obtain express consent for:
You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. Withdrawal of consent may affect our ability to provide you with certain services.
We do not sell personal information. We share personal information only as described below or as otherwise permitted or required by law.
With advisors (for client inquiries).
When clients submit inquiries or requests to advisors, we share the client’s name, contact information and message content with the selected advisor so they can respond. Advisors are independent professionals and are responsible for handling personal information according to their own legal and regulatory obligations, privacy policies and professional standards.
With service providers.
We engage third-party companies and individuals (our “service providers”) to perform services on our behalf, such as:
Service providers may have access to personal information only as necessary to perform their functions, and are contractually required to:
With analytics and advertising partners.
We may allow certain partners to use cookies, pixels or similar technologies to collect information about your device and browsing behaviour for analytics and advertising purposes. These partners use the information to provide us with aggregated reports (for example, number of views, clicks) and to deliver ads based on your interests. We implement opt-out mechanisms where feasible and do not knowingly use these tools for tracking children or on websites aimed at children.
For legal reasons.
We may disclose personal information:
Business transfers.
In the event of a proposed or actual merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, sale of assets or similar transaction, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will ensure that confidentiality is maintained and that any successor organization agrees to protect personal information in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Aggregated or de-identified data.
We may use and share aggregated or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you, for example, to publish statistics about platform usage or for research and analytics.
When you first visit the Site, we display a notice (banner) about our use of cookies, with a link to this policy and, where applicable, options to manage your preferences or opt out of non-essential cookies. You may also configure your browser to reject or delete cookies. If you disable some cookies, parts of the Site may not function properly.
We do not knowingly use cookies or similar technologies to track children or to serve targeted ads on websites aimed at children.
Retention.
We retain personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as required or permitted by law. We consider factors such as:
As general guidance:
Security.
We implement reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect personal information against loss, theft and unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. These measures may include:
However, no system is completely secure. In the event of a breach of security safeguards that poses a real risk of significant harm, we will comply with applicable breach notification laws, including:
Our primary servers are currently located in Canada. However, some of our service providers may be located or may process personal information in other countries, including the United States and member states of the European Union or other jurisdictions.
When personal information is transferred outside of Canada, it may be subject to the laws of the receiving jurisdiction, which may provide a different level of protection than Canadian laws. In such cases, we use contractual and other safeguards (for example, data protection agreements and appropriate technical measures) to require that service providers protect personal information in a manner comparable to Canadian standards.
Residents of Québec may also have additional rights under Québec’s Law 25, including rights to data portability and erasure, subject to legal and technical limitations.
To make a privacy request (for example, access, correction or withdrawal of consent), please contact us at:
Email: support@advisoradvisory.com
Subject line: “Privacy Request – Advisor Advisory”
We may ask you for additional information to verify your identity and to help us locate the personal information we hold about you. We will respond within a reasonable time (generally within 30 days), or inform you if we require an extension and explain your options if you are not satisfied with our response.
If we refuse your request as permitted by law, we will explain the reasons and identify any recourse that may be available to you, including the right to complain to the relevant privacy regulator.
Our Site may contain links to third-party websites, applications or services that are not owned or controlled by Advisor Advisory, including advisor websites and external tools (for example, payment processors, scheduling tools, social media platforms). This Privacy Policy does not apply to the privacy practices of those third parties.
We are not responsible for the privacy, security or content of third-party sites. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing any personal information.
Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of majority in their province, state or country of residence. If we become aware that a child has provided us with personal information without parental consent, we will take steps to delete such information as soon as reasonably possible.
We do not knowingly allow targeted advertising on websites aimed at children.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements or for other operational reasons. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and may provide additional notice (for example, by email or a prominent notice on the Site).
Your continued use of the Site after the effective date of any revised policy constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Email: support@advisoradvisory.com
We are committed to addressing your concerns in a timely and transparent manner and, where appropriate, working with regulatory authorities to resolve any privacy issues.