Code of Ethics: Privacy Policy

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A Code of ethics is a set of written guidelines that outline the manager's or corporation's expectations of their employees. In other words, a corporate code of ethics is "a written list of the laws, beliefs, values, and employee standards, actions, and relationships that a company considers important and believes are central to its effective activity." Corporations, especially those who deal with the internet extensively, bear a significant amount of responsibility for their customers.

Corporate Ethics Code on Privacy: Address Employee Privacy

Employee privacy focuses on an organization rules and procedures for collecting, using and disclosing the personal information of former, current or prospective employees. Under employee privacy is the employee privacy policy that includes employees personal rights within a business. 

Employee Privacy at Atlantic Bank

Atlantic Bank is dedicated in maintaining accuracy, security and confidentiality of the personal information collected from all employees. Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual other than their business title and business contact information. The collection of personal information is very important in determining eligibility in establishing employment.  The information collected is used to manage, maintain or terminate employment with an employee. 

Atlantic Bank gathers and maintain various personal information in relation to those individuals that are currently seeking employment, currently working and was previously working at our organization. Such information includes but is not limited to:

•   References and notes
•    Photographs and videos
•  Letters of application and resumes
• Performance and Appraisal report
• Copies of photo ID
• Wages and benefits
• Payroll information – Bank account #’s, Social Security #’s
• Forms in relation to the application process- Health certificates, Police records, Date of Birth, Marital status etc.

The company and staff will at all-time respect the confidentiality of all personal information in its possession. Atlantic Bank always complies with all applicable privacy legislation and regulations in force now and in the future related to the protecting and confidentiality of Personal information.

Social Media Policy 

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Employees of Atlantic Bank that uses social media platforms must conduct themselves in ways such as:

• Share/provide accurate information that will give the brand a positive image.
• When sharing content, employees respond should be fair in what they say to create a social wellbeing for the business and customer relationships.
• Be aware of who can see your information, what is being shared, and what is being said and shared about your business.
• Overall, an employee should create a positive, credible online presence for both their own benefit and for the benefit of Atlantic Bank.
• Display self-respect and appropriateness on social media.

Employees of Atlantic Bank that uses social media platforms must adhere to the following (don’t):

·         Under no circumstances may inside or confidential information – including information about customers, employees, others or organization be posted online

•  Don’t publish material that is under copyright or is confidential. 
• Don’t attempt to provide customer service through your personal account.
•   Employees are prohibited from using the Atlantic Bank logo or name in non-work-related social media communications.
•   Respect Professional Boundaries of coworkers.
• Keep Workplace Issues or Conflicts Confidential.
•  Always use a clarifying statement when the post expresses an employee’s personal opinion
•  Don’t list your work email on your personal profiles.

Within a business, it is their responsibility to build a positive identity. If policies are not put into place, employees would be able to share anything to anyone. These policies should reflect your corporate culture. The organization policy is to be truthful and non-misleading in all communications and representations, written and verbal. Social Media Policy should be set by an organization’s committee comprised of compliance, marketing, Human Resource, and IT. Everyone on the committee should review applicable legislation and guidance when creating this policy. It is important to be clear about the consequences of violating policies established in the social media employee policy.

In addition, employees who fail to adhere to the Social media policies and violate them may result to disciplinary action or termination of employment. To conclude, employees are ambassadors to the organization and they should display ethical behavior and mannerism making sure whatever they post is in a professional manner, avoid controversial views, and understand the social conventions are practiced on different platforms.

Off-Duty Conduct 

While you can regulate your employees' behavior at work, your employees' off-duty conduct is a different story. When it comes to activities or behavior employees are engaged while not at work, employers have very limited say. In order for you to do anything about an employee's off-duty conduct, there should be some relationship between the conduct and the employee's job or your business.

To determine whether there is any action that you can take regarding an employee's lawful off-duty conduct, ask yourself the following questions:

·         Is there a relationship between the off-duty conduct of the employee and the performance of the employee's job?

·         Does the employee's off-duty conduct put your business in an unfavorable light with the public?

·         Does the employee's conduct have a potential for harming the business?

Examples:

1.      Employees are not allowed to be in possession of drugs or any sort of harmful weapons

2.      Employees are expected to properly conduct themselves in the public eye.

3.      Employees are not to be in company uniform if out drinking with friends or for other social purposes.

Employee off-duty conduct is important to the bank, since an employee’s off-duty conduct can also affect the bank’s reputation. For example: if an employee of the bank is busted with drugs when off-duty, this will bring bad image to the bank and resulting in also firing that employee.

Protection

Atlantic bank enforced security measures appropriate for the sensitivity of the information to ensure that all personal information for every individual is protected against any form of unauthorized personal.

Methods of security include:

·         Technological security including passwords and encryption

·         Organizational security including security clearances and access limited on a “need to know” basis

·         Physical security including locking filing cabinets and secure access offices.

All files, documents (whether on a computer or hard copy) and other such work produce by our employees remains the property of Atlantic Bank Ltd. Thus we reserved the right to monitor all such work related activities.

Notification and consent

Knowledge and consent is required from the affected individual for the collection, use and disclosure of all Personal information. Employees maintain the right to refuse to give such consent.

Disclose Personal Information

Atlantic bank disclose personal information to our employees (direct supervisor or higher) contractors when it is proven that it is needed to accomplish a set goal.

In addition, the company disclose personal information to the police or other government agencies or authorities in the event of an on-going investigation on the company property or in relation to the company or the employee.

 

Photo source: https://sbshrs.adpinfo.com/blog/9-ways-to-protect-sensitive-employee-information

Corporate Ethics Code on Privacy: The privacy of Customers and Users of a local organization

The use of technology has increased significantly, and corporations now have access to a vast amount of personal and non-personal data about their customers. We can now see that the code of ethics must not only consider employee conduct toward the company but also track and check the behavior of the corporation and its employees toward customers. 

Customer Policy at Atlantic Bank

Companies that deal with information systems must understand the importance and security of their data, and they must have rules and regulations in place to govern corporate conduct, as well as the behavior of their employees who are in contact with sensitive data. This is why one of Atlantic Bank top priorities is to keep their customers' financial information secure. Atlantic Bank wants all their customers to have confidence in the confidentiality and security of their financial details. For starters, at Atlantic Bank,  just a few workers have access to Customers’ Information, and this is done solely for business purposes. The staff are subject to disciplinary action if they fail to obey a code of ethics that includes the sensitive handling of Customer Information. In regards to customers’ online banking, the organization goes to great lengths to ensure the security of customers’ online banking transactions by employing Stable Sockets Layer technology (SSL). This is a security protocol that encrypts all web traffic between a customer's browser and their servers. Tokens and an account lockout feature are also given to customers to help them authenticate and defend themselves from unauthorized users.

Photo source: https://atlabank.com/

Atlantic Bank is dedicated to keeping customer's information safe and confidential. Here are a few codes of ethics that Atlantic Bank employees must follow that addresses the privacy of customers and users of their organization:

1. The Bank and its employees adhere to the principles of the bank.
2. Personal information collected does not include any information that can be traced back to any specific individual.

   They use your Personal Information only to:

   • Respond to your inquiries and fulfil your requests

   • Inform you about information regarding our website, products or services, changes to terms and conditions, and policies

   • Inform you of new products or services we believe may be of interest to you

   • Allow you to apply for products or services and evaluate your eligibility for such products or services.

   • Respond to your inquiries and fulfil your requests

   • Inform you about information regarding our website, products or services, changes to terms and conditions, and policies

   • Verify your identity and/or location in order to allow access to your accounts, conduct transactions online and maintain your protection and security of the account and Personal Information

   • For business purposes.

3. As a consumer, you have the right to limit some information but not all sharing.
4. The customer may refuse to accept to use cookies and most devices and browsers offer their own privacy settings for cookies. He/she will need to manage their cookie settings for each device and browser used.
5. Only certain employees are authorized to access Customer Information and this is done for business purposes only. Bounded by a code of conduct.
6. No information or even transactions that the bank makes should be disclosed to anyone.
7. For online security, the bank’s website is set to timeout and forces the online customer to login.

Photo source: https://choosetoencrypt.com/privacy/11-private-email-services-to-keep-your-emails-confidential/

Email Privacy  

The Atlantic Bank is the second largest bank in Belize and they take very serious considerations when it comes to their customers e-mail privacy. Here are a few tips when it comes to email privacy to their customers:

1.      If you receive a suspicious email using Atlantic Bank’s name and asking for personal or Atlantic Bank account information, immediately forward the email to atlantic@atlabank.com. We will never send you an email asking for your online username or password.

2.      If you think you may have provided personal or account information in response to a fraudulent email or website, report the fraud immediately, change your password, and monitor your account activity frequently.

3.      Open email attachments only if you know the sender. It is best to scan attachments with your anti-virus software prior to opening.

4.      Question suspicious emails

Photo source: https://www.atlabank.com/personal.php

Note: This policy extends to all Atlantic Bank Ltd customers. Both local, national, and foreign divisions are included. This privacy policy complies with all applicable local and national laws in the different regions where we do business. again after an extended time period of inactivity.

To maintain security, have operational excellence and understand information systems, it is important for Atlantic Bank managers to be knowledgeable about the study of people, technology, the organization and the relationships among them.