1. Scope
EXVAL ADVISORY – FZCO (hereinafter referred to as “Exval”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy and Cookies Policy (hereinafter referred to as the “Policy”) explains how we collect, process, and protect personal data when you visit our website, subscribe to our knowledge hub updates, or engage our professional services.
This Policy applies to Exval’s website visitors, clients, prospective clients, and other persons who share their information with Exval.
2. Data We Collect and Process
We may collect and process the following categories of personal and corporate data:
- Contact and Identification Data: name, email address, phone number, job title, residential address, nationality, passport copies, Emirates ID, residence visa details, and other identity documentation.
- Financial and Transaction Data: invoices, bank statements, tax declarations, contracts, and other financial documents provided for accounting, bookkeeping, and tax advisory services.
- Corporate Data: company licences, incorporation documents, UBO and director information, shareholder registers, and KYC documentation.
- Technical Data: IP address, device information, browser type, and cookies.
- Communications Data: information you provide when subscribing to our knowledge hub updates, sending us a message, or booking a consultation.
3. Legal Basis for Processing
We process personal data under the following legal bases:
- Consent: by sharing information or documents or subscribing to our services/knowledge hub, you consent to the processing of personal data.
- Contractual Necessity: data required to perform our services under our Terms and Conditions of Engagement.
- Legal Obligation: compliance with UAE laws, including Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) requirements.
- Legitimate Interests: ensuring proper business operations, client communication, and website functionality.
Clients are responsible for ensuring that they have obtained all necessary consents from data subjects (e.g. directors, shareholders, employees) before sharing their personal data with Exval.
4. How We Use Personal Data
We use personal data for the following purposes:
- To deliver accounting, bookkeeping, and tax advisory services.
- To perform KYC and AML compliance checks.
- To manage client relationships and communications.
- To respond to inquiries, messages, and consultation requests.
- To send updates, newsletters, and articles to subscribers.
- To comply with legal, regulatory, and professional obligations.
- To protect Exval’s rights, interests, and business operations.
5. Sharing of Data
We may share personal and corporate data with:
- Exval’s agents, subcontractors, or service providers, when necessary to deliver services.
- Exval’s banks, lawyers, auditors, financial and corporate advisors.
- Company registrars, tax authorities, regulators, and courts in the UAE or other jurisdictions, if required for compliance or business purposes.
- Third-party IT and cloud service providers.
- We may store and process data both within the United Arab Emirates and the European Union.
6. Cookies
6.1. Use of Cookies
Our website uses cookies to improve user experience, analyse website performance, and support marketing activities. Cookies are small text files stored on your device when visiting our website.
We use the following categories of cookies:
- Necessary Cookies – required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.
- Functional Cookies – help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.
- Analytics Cookies – used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
- Performance Cookies – used to understand and analyse the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
- Advertisement Cookies – used to provide visitors with customised advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyse the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.
You can manage cookie preferences at any time via the “Consent Preferences” icon in the lower-left corner of the website, or through your browser settings.
6.2. Third-Party Cookies
Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our website. Google Analytics collects data such as IP address, device type, and browsing behaviour. This data is anonymised and aggregated, and helps us improve website performance. For more information, visit: Google Privacy Policy.
Meta Pixel (Facebook Pixel): We use Meta Pixel to measure ad performance and deliver targeted advertisements on Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram). Meta may collect data on user interactions with our website and associate this with Meta user profiles. For more information, visit: Meta Privacy Policy.
7. Data Retention
We retain personal data only as long as necessary to:
- Fulfil the purposes for which it was collected.
- Comply with applicable UAE laws (including AML recordkeeping obligations).
- Defend Exval’s legal rights.
8. Data Subject Rights
Under UAE Federal Law No. 45 of 2021 (Personal Data Protection Law or PDPL), you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you.
- Request correction or deletion of inaccurate or outdated data.
- Withdraw consent to processing (where processing is based on consent).
- Object to processing under certain circumstances.
Requests should be submitted in writing to Exval using the contact details below.
9. Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. Updates will be published on our website, and material changes will be notified in accordance with our Terms and Conditions of Engagement.
11. Contact
For any questions or requests regarding this Policy or your personal data, please contact us at: support@exval.ae.