President's Choice Financial|security|daily banking|What we do

what we do

We take your online security extremely seriously. The questions and answers below will give you an idea of the steps we take to protect your financial and personal information.

President’s Choice Financial Personal Banking Online Security Guarantee
What is 128-bit encryption technology?
What is the difference between authentication and encryption?
Why are some web browsers more secure than others?
How do I know what level of security I have on my browser?
What happens when I sign in and sign out?
How does President's Choice Financial use my information?
How do I clear my browser cache?
What is JavaScript and why do I need it?
What are cookies and how do you use them?
What is the difference between a session cookie and a persistent cookie?
Do I have to accept cookies?
How do I set my browser to accept or disable cookies?

President’s Choice Financial Personal Banking Online Security Guarantee

The security of our customers' financial information is important to us. That's why we offer the President’s Choice Financial Personal Banking Online Security Guarantee.

In the unlikely event that someone gains unauthorized access to your President’s Choice Financial bank accounts through President’s Choice Financial Online Banking we will reimburse you 100% of the money lost from your bank accounts provided you have met your responsibilities to us.

help us protect your information

To benefit from the security of the President’s Choice Financial Personal Banking Online Security Guarantee, you need to do your part to help us protect your information and finances. This means meeting your responsibilities under your agreements with us, including:

Carefully selecting your password and Personal Verification Questions, and never disclosing them to anyone
Using up-to-date anti-virus/anti-spyware software and a firewall
Reviewing your statements and reporting errors within the time periods set out in your account agreement
Assisting us in any investigation into improper access to your bank accounts

For full information, refer to the President’s Choice Financial Personal Banking Legal Stuff brochure and the other agreements for your products and services. The guarantee is governed by the terms of these agreements.

For more information on safe computing practices and how you can protect your security and privacy online, read our guide to Online Banking Security.

we're committed to protecting your privacy and security

One of our most important priorities is to protect the privacy and security of your personal information and your financial transactions you conduct through President’s Choice Financial online banking. We use multiple layers of protection when you access your online banking, including:

web browser encryption

All the browsers supported by President’s Choice Financial Online Banking offer 128-bit encryption. This provides a high level of protection for transmitting confidential data over the Internet.

firewalls

We have secure firewalls to prevent unauthorized access to our systems.

monitoring

We monitor activity on President’s Choice Financial Online Banking to enhance your security and to protect your financial information.

For a complete review of how President’s Choice Financial protects your online banking, please read Online Banking Security

What is 128-bit encryption technology?

Encryption scrambles all information between your personal computer and our computers, protecting the information you provide to us as it travels over the Internet. Your banking information and transactions are kept secure by using one of the best, most commonly used encryption technologies available: 128 bit encryption

Our computer security specialists build security into all our computer systems. This protects your information at all times, when it is stored in data files or handled by our employees. Our systems also protect your information when it is transmitted, for example, between our data processing centres and a branch, or banking machine, or a department store when you use your credit or debit card.

What is the difference between authentication and encryption?

Authentication is vital for secure e-commerce transactions in which you send private and confidential information over the Internet and first want to verify the receiving server's identity. Server authentication allows you to confirm a web server's identity. Your browser can automatically check that a server's certificate and public ID are valid and have been issued by a certificate authority (CA), such as VeriSign.
An encrypted connection requires all information sent between your computer and our server to be encrypted by the sender and decrypted by the receiver. This protects private information from being intercepted over the Internet. This means that you can share personal data (such as your account information) with us, trusting that it will remain private and confidential.

Why are some web browsers more secure than others?

There are many types of web browsers on the market today and they all have varying degrees of security. This is because they use different technologies for encryption, making some web browsers more secure than others. To access your President's Choice Financial online accounts, please ensure you are using one of the supported browsers that use 128-bit encryption.

How do I know what level of security I have on my browser?

If you use Internet Explorer, look in your browsers 'Help' Menu and select 'About Internet Explorer.' You will read the encryption that this particular browser offers. If you hold the cursor over the lock symbol, it will display the level of encryption that is currently being used. For the President's Choice Financial web site, this should read 128-SSL.

What happens when I sign in and sign out?

For your protection, you have to provide your card number and password when you sign in to any secure area of our web sites. If you are unable to provide the correct password, you will not be granted access.

When you sign in successfully, your web browser will establish a secure connection between your computer and our web server. This allows you to communicate with us and to conduct online transactions safely. To make sure your browser has established a secure connection, look for a lock symbol at the bottom left or right hand corner of your browser. If you hold the cursor over the lock symbol, it will display the level of encryption that is currently being used. For the President’s Choice Financial web site, this should read 128-SSL. You can also check the address bar of your browser; if the address starts with "https://" rather than the standard "http://", then your session is secure.

To protect you against unauthorized access to your accounts, your session will time out after 15 minutes of inactivity. When this happens, you will have to sign in again to continue your banking.

We recommend that you clear your browser cache after you sign out, or close your browser and re-open it before browsing the Internet.

How does President's Choice Financial use my information?

President's Choice Financial may use the information we collect about you in the following ways:

online surveys

President's Choice Financial may randomly present surveys to visitors of our web site. The survey data is collected anonymously and is used to help improve our services. We do not use the survey data for marketing purposes, and you are not required to complete online surveys.

online offers

President's Choice Financial may present product and service offers to you when visiting our web site. You can choose to accept these offers, decline them, or view them at a later time. You are not required to accept online offers.

planning calculators and tools

President's Choice Financial's web site include planning and selection tools and calculators. Tools offered as part of our web site may save your data for your future use so you don't have to enter it each time you use the tool; however, President's Choice Financial will not use this data. Tools offered before you sign in to online banking do not save data.

online advertising

President's Choice Financial sometimes places online ads on web sites that are not affiliated with President's Choice Financial. If you select one of these ads, President's Choice Financial may track the response rate and the web site activity associated with each ad. The response rate data is collected anonymously, and is used to help us plan future online advertising campaigns.

web site activity

President's Choice Financial monitors web site activity using persistent cookies to better understand the needs of our visitors and to improve our services. For more information on how President's Choice Financial tracks web site activity, please see our section about cookies.

Your information is obtained or used only with your consent

We obtain your consent before we:

obtain a credit report
offer you other products and services
send you information about products and services by means of direct marketing
provided it is legally permitted, share your information in confidence within the President's Choice Financial services group
obtain, use or disclose to other persons, information about you unless we are obliged to do so by law or to protect our interests
use your information in any way we didn't tell you about previously

your consent can be express or implied

Express consent can be verbal or written. For example, when you sign a credit application you are giving your written consent for us to obtain a credit report.

You imply consent when we can reasonably conclude you have given consent by some action you've taken, or when you decide not to take action. For example, if we offer a credit card with attached conditions and if you use the credit card, we can conclude that you have consented to the conditions. If we give you an opportunity to tell us you don't want direct marketing material and you don't tell us that you don't want us to send it, we can conclude that you have no objection.

We will rely on your implied consent to use and disclose identifying information about you, such as your name and address.

How do I clear my browser cache?

To clear your browser's cache, follow these instructions.

What is JavaScript and why do I need it?

JavaScript is a small program that enhances web pages and servers. President's Choice Financial uses JavaScript to make our web sites easier to use. You must have JavaScript enabled on your browser to use the President's Choice Financial web site.

What are cookies and how do you use them?

A cookie is a small data or text file that a web server sends to your computer's web browser to be stored and referenced for future use. It contains information about how you are using a web site and can track your movements through it.

Cookies are not used to read your hard drive and they cannot access files and information stored on your computer. They cannot reveal anything about you that you have not chosen to enter as a user on a web site.

We do not store any personal information — such as your name, e-mail address or Social Insurance Number — on a cookie. We do not use cookies to gather information for marketing or promotional purposes. In addition, we cannot use cookies to find out what web sites you visit once you leave the President's Choice Financial services web site.

We use 2 types of cookies: persistent cookies and session cookies.

What is the difference between a session cookie and a persistent cookie?

A session cookie only stores information while you are connected to a particular web site, and is no longer available after you close your browser session. A persistent cookie is written onto your hard drive and can remain there permanently until you choose to delete it or until it reaches its pre-assigned expiry date.

President's Choice Financial uses session cookies to enhance security and navigation when you bank online. For example, session cookies protect your security while you are signed in to online banking by ensuring no one else can view your data while you are signed in. We also use session cookies to warn you that you may be making a duplicate bill payment online. Your web browser must allow session cookies in order for you to bank online with President's Choice Financial.

Persistent cookies are used for your convenience to save your President's Choice Financial personal preferences when you bank online. For example, you must allow persistent cookies if you want your browser to remember your bank card number each time you sign in to online banking.

We may also use persistent cookies to remember what information has been presented to you, so you do not see it again. For example, if we have to communicate information to you through a pop-up message or temporary message, a persistent cookie will make sure you only have to see the information once, rather than having to see it every time you visit our web site.

President's Choice Financial also uses session and persistent cookies to collect analytical information about how visitors use our web site. For example, we may measure web site usage, access to online services and the level of interest in particular products. We use this information to improve our service and provide a better experience for visitors to our web site. To gather this information, we use cookies that track how a computer uses our web sites and whether the computer has been used to sign in to bank online. Currently, we don't use cookies to collect information about identifiable individuals or use cookie information to offer products and services to individuals. If this changes in the future, we will update this section.

President's Choice Financial never stores your personal financial information in cookies or uses cookies to track your online use after you leave our web site.

Do I have to accept cookies?

Although it is not necessary to accept persistent cookies to access the President's Choice Financial web site, you do have to accept session cookies to sign in to the secure, online banking part of the web site in order for it to function correctly. Cookies are used for added security and convenience when banking online with President's Choice Financial.

If you are concerned about accepting cookies from other web sites, you can set your browser to warn you that you are about to receive one. You can then choose whether to accept it or not. But remember, if you choose not to accept session cookies then you will not be able to sign in to online banking.

How do I set my browser to accept or disable cookies?

To set your browser to accept or disable cookies, please follow these instructions.