Privacy Policy

UBA's Privacy Policy

This privacy policy regulates how personal information can be used by United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and Group of companies.

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The Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy regulates how personal information is used and protected by United Bank for Africa Plc and its Group of companies (“UBA” or “the Bank”).

In line with Data Protection Law DIFC Law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and any applicable Data Protection and Privacy Laws and regulations, UBA maintains the following privacy principles governing how we collect, use and manage your personal data.

Lawful Reasons for Collecting Personal Data by the Bank

The Consent of the Data Subject.
Offer of Banking and allied services to the Data Subject.
Offer of employment to the Data Subject.
Performance of Contract.
Compliance with Legal obligation.
Necessary to protect the vital interests of a person in line with Data Privacy regulations.
Necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.
In the legitimate interests of the Bank (except where the interests or rights and freedoms of the data subject override those interests).

Collection of Personal Information

United Bank for Africa Plc (DIFC Branch) is registered at 321, South Tower, Emirates Financial Towers, Dubai, UAE, with its headquarters at 57 Marina Street Lagos, with Business offices in 20 African countries; New York, the United Kingdom, and France.

As a responsible business, UBA is committed to compliance with data protection regulations in collecting and processing personal data as defined in the Data Protection Law DIFC Law and the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR) and other applicable Data Privacy regulations.

The regulations above give you certain rights regarding our use of your personal data, including the right to:

Request access to the personal data we have collected about you to review, modify, or request deletion of the data.
Request a copy of the personal data we have collected about you and correct any inaccuracies in that data.
Request that we cease processing your personal data.
Lodge a complaint with a competent data protection authority.
Data portability.

Note that some laws may prevent us from providing access to your personal data or fully complying with your request depending upon the circumstances and the request. For example, producing your information may reveal another person’s identity. We reserve the right to charge an appropriate fee for complying with your request where applicable law allows and/or deny your requests where they may be manifestly unfounded, excessive, or otherwise objectionable or unwarranted under applicable law.

What do we need?

United Bank for Africa will be known as the “controller” and “processor” of the personal data you provide to us.

We will only collect basic personal data from you, including Name, Address; Nationality; Email, Phone number, ID Number, and any other information as may be mandated by the regulatory requirements of the respective countries and their applicable central bank requirement.

We will NEVER ask for personal banking information such as card details (CVV); PIN, Password; Secure Passcode; or Token number.

Why do we need it?

We require your basic personal data to provide you with banking services you have engaged us for based on the requirements from the respective Central banks and/or governmental regulations in line with the applicable Data Privacy regulations and our Data Privacy Framework/Policy.

What do we do with it?

To enable you to obtain banking services through us, we will collect, store and process some of your personal data as required under the law. Your consent is required to make banking services available to you in accordance with the law/regulation in force.

We will hold and process all personal data that the Bank collects from you and may only share with any of our subsidiaries and/or authorised service providers (third parties) where applicable in a secure manner. Unless required by a Legal or regulatory requirement for the Banking services, your data will be held confidential. We will take all reasonable actions to ensure that the personal data of all customers, employees and other stakeholders are handled securely and in a controlled manner. The Bank complies with the latest Information security standards such as PCI-DSS, ISO/IEC 27001:2013 etc.

How long do we keep it?

As a regulated financial services institution, we will retain your personal data for ten (10) years or as may be required by regulation in the country under consideration, after which it will be disposed of as required under the respective Government laws and Banking regulations. Please note that regulations may require the Bank to retain your personal data for a specified period, even after your banking relationship with us ends.

Use or Sharing of Personal Data

All personal data collected may be shared with Third parties and Service providers to complete the service to the customers in line with Data Protection Law DIFC Law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and any applicable Data Protection Laws.

In addition, we may disclose your personal data:

If we are required to do so by law or legal process (e.g., a legally valid warrant, Court Order, or other specific judicial or regulatory mandates);
To law enforcement authorities or other government officials or Public entities permitted under the law to make such request in line with Article 28 of the DP Law 2020;
- such requests must be clear and definite to cover every information over the Data Subjects.
- And must be properly served as per the applicable law
When we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity;
When exporting Personal Data outside DIFC, the Bank will handle it in line with the requirement of Articles 26 and 27 of the DP Law 2020
If disclosure is necessary to protect the vital interests of a person;
To enforce our Terms and Conditions;
To protect our property, services and legal rights;
To prevent fraud against UBA, our subsidiaries, affiliates and business partners;
To support auditing, compliance, and corporate governance functions; or
To comply with any applicable laws.

Data Security

At UBA, security is our top priority, and we always strive to ensure that your personal data shall be protected against unauthorised or accidental access. We maintain this commitment to data security by implementing appropriate physical, electronic and managerial measures to safeguard and secure your personal data with us.
Our web servers are protected behind “firewalls”, and our systems are monitored to prevent unauthorised access. We will not send personal information to you by ordinary email. As the security of ordinary email cannot be guaranteed, you should only send emails to us using the secure email facility on our website.
All practical steps shall be taken to ensure that personal data will not be kept longer than necessary and that the Bank will comply with all statutory and regulatory requirements concerning the retention of personally identifiable information.
Our commitment to Data Security is paramount to us at UBA. Your personally identifiable information is kept secure in line with applicable Data Protection Regulations. Only authorised members of staff, agents and contractors (who have agreed to keep information secure and confidential) have access to this information.

Security Assurance

UBA and its customers shall play an important role in protecting against online fraud. You should be careful that your bank account details, including your User ID and Password, are not compromised by ensuring you do not knowingly or accidentally share, provide or facilitate unauthorised use. Please do not share your User ID and password or allow access or use of it by others. UBA endeavours to put high-security standards in place to protect your interests
You should safeguard your unique User ID and Password by keeping them secret and confidential. Never write them down or share these details with anyone. If you think your User ID and password have been disclosed to a third party, is lost or stolen, and unauthorised transactions may have been conducted, you are responsible for informing us immediately.

Remedies for personal data violation

If your personal data is violated at any given time, you can contact the bank’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) at dataprotectionoffice@ubagroup.com.

Within a reasonable timeframe of UBA receiving a complaint, UBA shall notify the Individual in line with data privacy requirements of either,

(i) UBA’s position with regard to the complaint and any action UBA has taken or will take in response; or,
(ii) when the individual will be informed of UBA’s position, which date shall be in line with data privacy requirements.

Remedies shall include but are not limited to investigating and reporting to appropriate authorities, recovering the personal data, correcting it and enhancing controls around it.

Cross Border Transfer

Given the scope of our banking operations, we process data inside and outside UAE and rely on legally-provided mechanisms to lawfully transfer data across borders. Countries where we process data, may have laws different from, and potentially less protective than, the laws of the UAE and the EU.

UBA shall not transfer your personal data to a foreign country or international organisation in contravention of the Data Protection Law, General Data Protection Regulation and other applicable Data Protection Laws.

Data Retention

Your obligations

Where you share the personal data of third parties with us, including your directors, officers and authorised signatories (Data Subjects), you are responsible for and warrant that you shall obtain their consent for the processing and transfer of their personal data for your contract with us and the provision of banking services to you.

Use of Cookies

Cookies are small bits of information automatically stored on a person’s web browser in their computer that can be retrieved by this site.

Your visit to our websites and digital and electronic platforms (“Site”) may be recorded to analyse the number of visitors and general usage patterns. Some of this information will be gathered using “cookies”. If you wish to disable these cookies, you may change the setting on your browser.
The Site may use cookie and tracking technology depending on the features offered. Cookie and tracking technology are useful for gathering information such as browser type and operating system, tracking the number of visitors to the Site, and understanding how visitors use the Site.
Cookies can also help customise the Site for visitors. Personal information cannot be collected via cookies and other tracking technology; however, if you previously provided personally identifiable information, cookies may be tied to such information. Aggregate cookie and tracking information may be shared with third parties.

Changes to Privacy Policy

We review this Privacy Policy regularly and reserve the right to make changes at any time to take account of changes in our business and legal requirements. We will place updates on our website.

Privacy Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about our privacy policy, you may contact us using the information below:

Data Protection Office, UBA
Email:dataprotectionoffice@ubagroup.com, cfc@ubagroup.com