Privacy Policy

Who we are

Isihlangu Financial Services is an independent financial services business based in Johannesburg, South Africa, serving clients nationwide. We are a juristic representative of Discovery Life Limited.

For the purposes of POPIA, Isihlangu Financial Services is the responsible party for the personal information described in this policy. That means we decide what is collected and why, and we are accountable for how it is handled.

Our Information Officer is Avi Kay, who can be reached using the contact details at the end of this policy.

What we collect

Information you give us

When you complete the enquiry form on this website, we ask for:

• Your full name
• Your email address
• Your phone number
• The service you are interested in, chosen from a list
• How you would prefer we contact you, by email or by phone

If you phone, send a WhatsApp message or email us instead of using the form, we will hold whatever information you choose to share in that message.

Information collected automatically

Like most websites, ours records basic technical information when you visit, such as the type of device and browser you are using, the pages you looked at, roughly where in the world you are, and which website sent you to us. This is used to understand how the site is performing. It does not identify you personally.

What we do not collect

This website does not ask for and does not accept identity numbers, bank or card details, medical information, or any other sensitive personal information. Never send those to us through this website. If we need that kind of information to advise you, we will collect it later through Discovery's own secure processes, with the appropriate consent and protections in place.

Why we collect it, and on what basis

We use the information you give us to respond to your enquiry, to arrange and provide financial advice if you want us to, and to stay in touch about the kinds of services you asked about.

In POPIA terms, we rely on the following grounds:

• Your consent. You choose to send us your details through the form, knowing we will use them to contact you.
• Performance of a contract, or steps towards one. Where you ask us to advise you, we need your details in order to do so.
• Our legitimate interests, and legal obligations. Financial services businesses are required to keep certain records about the advice they give.

We do not sell your information. We do not share it with third parties for their own marketing. We will not add you to a mailing list from the enquiry form alone, and if we ever introduce a newsletter it will be something you opt in to separately.

Who we share it with

Your information is seen by the Isihlangu team members who need it in order to help you. Beyond that, it is shared only in these circumstances:

• Discovery Life Limited and other Discovery companies. Where you ask us to arrange a product or provide advice on one, we share what is necessary with Discovery, who handle it under their own privacy terms.
• Service providers who help us run this website. These businesses process information on our instructions only, and may not use it for their own purposes. They are listed below.
• Where the law requires it, for example a valid request from a regulator or a court.

Service providers, and information leaving South Africa

Two of our service providers are based outside South Africa, which means your information is stored on servers in other countries. POPIA allows this where the receiving country or the provider offers a comparable level of protection, and both of these operate under recognised international data protection standards.

• Formspree (United States) receives and delivers the enquiry form to us.
• Vercel (United States) hosts this website.
• Google provides the website statistics described under Cookies below.

Cookies and website statistics

A cookie is a small file a website stores on your device, usually to remember something about your visit.

This website uses Google Analytics to understand how many people visit, which pages they read and how they found us. It is used to improve the website, not to identify individuals. Google Analytics sets cookies and records a shortened version of your internet address rather than the full one.

If you would rather not be counted, you can refuse cookies in your browser settings, use your browser's private browsing mode, or install Google's own opt-out add-on. The website works normally either way.

We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not track you across other websites.

How long we keep it

We keep the details you send us for as long as there may still be a reason to be in touch. An enquiry that does not lead anywhere today can become relevant later, when your circumstances change or when something comes along that genuinely suits you, and we would rather be able to pick up the conversation than ask you to start again from the beginning.

If you become a client, we keep records of the advice we gave and the products arranged for the periods required by South African financial services legislation.

You can ask us to delete what we hold about you at any time. Unless the law requires us to keep a particular record, we will remove it. See Your rights below.

How we protect it

The website is served over an encrypted connection, so anything you type into the form is protected in transit. Access to enquiries is limited to the people who need it, and our service providers are chosen partly on the strength of their security.

No website can promise perfect security. If a breach ever occurred that put your information at risk, POPIA requires us to notify both you and the Information Regulator, and we would do so.

Your rights

POPIA gives you real control over your information. You may:

• Ask what we hold about you, and be given a copy.
• Ask us to correct anything that is wrong or out of date.
• Ask us to delete information we no longer have a valid reason to keep.
• Object to how we are using it, or withdraw a consent you previously gave. Withdrawing consent does not undo anything done lawfully beforehand.
• Complain, to us or to the Information Regulator.

To exercise any of these, contact us using the details below. We will respond as quickly as we reasonably can, and we may need to confirm your identity first so that we do not disclose your information to someone else.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your request, you may complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa), whose details are at inforegulator.org.za.

Other websites

This website links to pages run by Discovery, and to the Information Regulator. Once you follow a link away from here, this policy no longer applies, and the privacy terms of that website take over. We are not responsible for how other organisations handle your information.

Changes to this policy

If the way we handle information changes, we will update this page and change the date at the top. Where a change materially affects you, we will make that clear rather than relying on you to notice.

Contact us

For anything in this policy, including a request about your own information, contact our Information Officer: