Privacy policy

 

Privacy Policy

Last Updated : April 12, 2026

Definitions

This Privacy Policy is provided by Bankeo, the company that operates this Website and the matching platform for accounting professionals to connect with business owners and individuals (hereinafter referred to as “ Bankeo™ », « About Us », « Our ») :

The “ Customer " refers to a business that uses Bankeo’s Services, whether as a matching requestor (as defined in the Terms of Use) or as an accounting professional registered with the Bankeo network (as defined in the applicable Service Agreement).

The “ Business Contact Information "Personal information" refers to information related to the performance of a function within a business, such as a person’s name, title, and position, as well as their workplace address, email address, and phone number. By “performance of a function,” we mean that this information must have been collected, used, or disclosed for the purpose of communicating with the individual in connection with their employment, business, or profession.

The “ Individual " refers to any individual who visits the Bankeo Website, as well as any individual who contacts Bankeo by filling out the form for matching with an accountant on the Bankeo Website.

The “ Platform "refers to the Bankeo Website and all of Bankeo’s integrated tools, portals, and services, including the portal accessible to accounting professionals and the matching processes."

The “ Personal Information "refers to information that identifies an individual, either directly or indirectly. This excludes business contact information, except in cases where privacy laws consider such information to be Personal Information. Information that is anonymized as defined by law is not considered Personal Information."

The “ Services " refer to the matching services offered by Bankeo between Clients or Individuals and selected accounting specialists, including support from a Bankeo advisor and use of the Matching Platform.

The “ Website " refers to the Bankeo website: https://www.bankeo.ca/

Scope and application

This Policy applies to Bankeo’s business clients.

It also includes a section specifically dedicated to Individuals. This section supplements the Policy applicable to our business customers.

Bankeo’s employees, contractors, agents, and partners must comply with the Privacy Policy if they have access to Personal Information in the course of their duties.

Privacy protection program

To protect Personal Information, we have implemented policies, practices, and procedures related to the management of the Personal Information we hold or have in our care.

These internal policies and practices govern the collection, use, disclosure, retention, and destruction of Personal Information, as well as the handling of complaints, information security, and data governance. These policies and practices also establish the framework for conducting privacy impact assessments, as well as for preventing and responding to potential privacy incidents. All of these policies and practices have been approved by our Chief Privacy Officer.

Privacy officer

Bankeo’s senior management has delegated the management of the Personal Information Protection Program to the Chief Privacy Officer. The Chief Privacy Officer’s responsibilities include managing and overseeing Bankeo’s internal personal information management program.

The Chief Privacy Officer approves and implements policies and procedures for the protection of personal information, ensures how it works, and reports to Bankeo’s senior management on the program’s effectiveness.

The Privacy Officer is also responsible for providing the necessary assistance in the event of any questions, complaints, or requests regarding the protection of Personal Information. For more information, please refer to the bottom of this document.

Consent

Since our products are intended for business customers, we generally do not have a direct business relationship with individuals. However, we require our clients to provide individuals with the notices required by law and to ensure that the use, collection, or disclosure of personal information between Bankeo and the client is authorized, where applicable.

However, we may collect Personal Information from Individuals when they visit our Website or if an Individual fills out a form for matching with an accounting specialist, available on our Website. In such cases, Bankeo ensures that it obtains all necessary consents for the use and disclosure of Personal Information.

Collection and use

As we develop and improve our Website and our Platform, we ensure that we limit the collection of Personal Information to what is strictly necessary for how the Website or the Platform work, for example in our contact forms or matching request forms.

The following are the purposes for which Bankeo collects and uses Business Contact Information through its Website, its Platform, and in the course of providing its Services:

  • To establish and maintain a business relationship with our customers;
  • To communicate with our customers regarding their accounts and to learn about their usage preferences;
  • To develop and improve our algorithm for matching businesses with accounting professionals, based on predefined qualification criteria;
  • To develop, improve, promote, or provide products and services to our Customers;
  • To send our newsletter to our customers;
  • To communicate with our Customers or provide them with information via email, mail, telephone, text message, or other means regarding our products and Services, changes to our policies and terms of use, and/or for other administrative purposes;
  • To comply with contractual, legal, and regulatory requirements;
  • To protect access to a user account and to verify the account holder’s identity;
  • To prevent and detect suspicious or fraudulent activities and transactions, or those that violate our Terms of Use;
  • To investigate and resolve incidents;
  • For any other purpose permitted by law, including to respond to requests from law enforcement or government authorities.

As mentioned previously and in very specific cases, Bankeo may collect Personal Information for its own purposes. The following are the purposes for which Bankeo collects and uses Personal Information for its own purposes:

  • To maintain and improve how the Bankeo Website and Platform work and their security;
  • For the management and administration of the Customer’s user account;
  • To contact you if you use our online forms that are available;
  • To prevent and detect suspicious or fraudulent activities and transactions, or those that violate our Terms of Use;
  • To investigate and resolve incidents;
  • For any other purpose permitted by law, including to respond to requests from law enforcement or government authorities.

Before recording any telephone conversation, Bankeo will inform you and obtain your verbal consent. You may refuse the recording. Electronic communications with Bankeo or any of its employees, subcontractors, agents, or partners are stored to ensure the quality of the services provided, the accuracy of the communications, and the training of Bankeo employees.

In the event that the Client or Individual refuses to provide the Information necessary to open and manage their Client user account, or withdraws their consent to the use or disclosure of their Business Contact Information or Personal Information, Bankeo may be unable to provide the Client or individual with the products and services they have subscribed to and may be required to terminate its business relationship with the Client or individual.

Disclosure and transfer of personal information

Bankeo may occasionally need to share Business Contact Information or Personal Information with its subcontractors or agents (the “ Third Parties ") to properly provide our Services or to help us make all features of our Platform and Website available (maintenance, analysis, legal requirements, fraud detection, marketing, and development). These third parties will have access only to the Business Contact Information and Personal Information necessary to perform these tasks on our behalf, and they are required not to disclose or use such information for any other purpose.

Please note that these subcontractors or agents may be located in Canada or in other jurisdictions or countries. Please be aware that we have contractual agreements with them to ensure the security of the data we entrust to them, and that we conduct privacy impact assessments before disclosing any Personal Information outside the province of Quebec. Although the Business Contact Information and Personal Information we transmit are protected by appropriate security measures, the Business Contact Information and Personal Information may be made available to foreign government agencies pursuant to applicable laws.

Retention

Bankeo has established retention periods for the Personal Information in its custody. Bankeo will not retain Personal Information for longer than is necessary or relevant for the identified purposes, unless otherwise required by law or regulation. Once these retention periods have expired, Bankeo will return or destroy the Personal Information in accordance with its internal policies for managing Personal Information.

For informational purposes only, the following retention periods apply:

  • Customer account data: duration of the relationship plus 3 years
  • Tax records: 7 years
  • Browsing data: 13 months
  • Cookies: depending on their type (see the "Cookies" section)

Security measures

Bankeo makes the security of the Personal Information it collects, uses, and holds a priority. Consequently, Bankeo ensures that it implements security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the data in order to protect Personal Information from risks such as loss or theft, and unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, modification, or destruction.

The Customer remains responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their user ID and password. If the Customer has reason to believe that the confidentiality of this information has been compromised, the Customer must immediately contact Bankeo at rprp@bankeo.ca to prevent fraudulent use of this information.

Accuracy

Bankeo relies on the Individual and the Customer to ensure that the Business Contact Information and Personal Information that Bankeo collects, uses, and retains for the purposes mentioned above remain accurate at all times.

Incident management

Bankeo’s Personal Information Management Program includes practices and procedures for detecting and responding to incidents, designed to facilitate the reporting of incidents involving Personal Information.

In accordance with the agreements entered into with the Client, Bankeo will provide reasonable assistance to support Clients in investigating any incident and in fulfilling their obligations regarding such incidents, where applicable, for example, with regard to notifications to data subjects and reporting the incident to the relevant data protection authorities or other relevant parties.

Access to information and other similar rights

Since we generally do not have a direct business relationship with the Individual, Bankeo will forward most requests from Individuals for access to information, correction of Personal Information, or other similar requests to the Client, unless Bankeo has contractually agreed to do so with the Client as part of its provision of Services.

The Bankeo website includes a feature that allows customers to set up their user accounts. To do so, customers must log in to access, modify, and/or delete the information in their accounts.

If the Customer wishes to close their user account, they must contact Bankeo’s customer service at contact@bankeo.ca to submit a request. The Customer’s user account will be deleted within ninety (90) days of Bankeo’s receipt of such a request, and the business contact information, personal information, documents, and other information stored or recorded therein will no longer be accessible and cannot be recovered after this period.

However, depending on applicable laws, where you live, and how you interact with the Bankeo Website or Platform, you may have certain rights regarding the Personal Information we hold about you. For more information on this subject, please refer to the section specifically for Individuals, or contact our Privacy Officer (see the “Contact Us” section below).

Section for individuals

When you visit our Site, you authorize us to collect and process your:

  • Information Related to the Use of the Site: such as the date and time of visits, geolocation data (with your consent), duration of your visit to the Site, pages viewed, and IP address used to connect.
  • Information regarding the use of your mobile devices: such as the type of mobile device, the unique identifier, the IP address, the operating system, and the device’s physical location (geolocation, beacon-based location), as well as mobile identifiers such as Apple’s IDFA or Google Android’s AAID, if applicable.

Your information will be used to:

  • To ensure that attempts to log in to our Site are legitimate and sufficiently secure;
  • To allow us to collect anonymized statistics on the pages visited and how visitors interact with the pages on our Site;
  • To allow us to contact you and stay in touch with you if you fill out our contact form.

When you use our Matching Services as an Individual, you authorize us to collect and process your:

  • Personal Information, such as your last name, first name, address, phone number, and email address.

This personal information will be accessible only to professionals who can assist you with your accounting work, as well as to Bankeo employees who need access to it in the course of their duties.

Your personal information will allow the professionals matched with you to:

  • To contact you to assist you with your accounting work;
  • To open a customer file;
  • To communicate with you regarding the progress of your projects.

This information will also be collected by Bankeo to measure the effectiveness of our automated decision-making algorithm, which helps us suggest a professional who may be a good fit for you.

Storage and Disclosure of Individuals' Information

Your personal information will be stored in various locations, including our customer records and other computer systems, such as our Platform.

We may need to share your personal information or grant access to it to our service providers, companies affiliated with Bankeo, or government authorities, whether located in Quebec or outside of Quebec.

These providers and agents may, in particular:

  • Host our platform or our Site;
  • To help us manage information security;
  • To carry out the tasks we entrust to them under contract;
  • To generate statistical analyses aimed at improving our automated decision-making process.

Retention Period for Individuals' Information

Bankeo will retain your Personal Information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, in accordance with our internal document retention policies, to comply with applicable legal, tax, or regulatory requirements, or until you ask us to destroy it. After such a period, any relevant Personal Information held by Bankeo will be destroyed, deleted, or anonymized.

Access and Other Rights Provided by Law

Depending on applicable laws, where you live, and how you interact with our Website or Platform, you may have certain rights regarding the Personal Information we hold about you.

For example, you may have the right to:

  • To access the Personal Information we hold about you;
  • To correct any Personal Information we hold that is inaccurate, ambiguous, or incomplete;
  • To obtain additional information, for example, regarding the categories of third parties to whom we disclose your Personal Information;
  • To request the portability of your Personal Information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format;
  • To withdraw your consent at any time, if we have collected and processed your Personal Information with your consent. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of the processing we carried out prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect the processing of your Personal Information carried out on the basis of legitimate processing grounds other than consent.
  • To file a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, such as a privacy commissioner or the Commission d’accès à l’information.

File a Complaint

You may file a complaint with Bankeo’s Chief Privacy Officer (see the “Contact Us” section below) if you are dissatisfied with our handling of your Personal Information or our compliance with this Policy.

You are also entitled by law to file a complaint with a privacy commissioner or any other competent data protection supervisory authority.

Exercising Your Rights

You may exercise the rights listed above by submitting a written request to our Privacy Officer (see the “Contact Us” section below). The Privacy Officer will assist you with this process if you need help.

For your protection, we may need to verify your identity before processing your request. In accordance with applicable laws, we will inform you of the procedure to follow, the processing time, and the information required, if any. We strive to respond to requests promptly, usually within 30 days.

As part of the Services covered by this Policy, Bankeo uses a matching algorithm to suggest accounting specialists. This algorithm does not make decisions that have legal consequences; it offers suggestions that you are free to accept or decline. You retain full control over your decisions.

Cookies and other similar technologies

A cookie (“ Cookies ") is a small text file that is stored in a designated location on your computer, mobile device, tablet, or other device when you use your browser to visit an online service. This Policy includes the term " Cookies ” other tracking technologies, including web beacons and tracking pixels. These tracking technologies are not necessarily stored on your computer or device. All Personal Information we collect using Cookies or on our behalf is treated with the same level of confidentiality as all other Personal Information we hold.

Technologies Used by Bankeo

Bankeo uses the following technologies, among others:

Google Analytics, HubSpot, Microsoft Clarity, Customer.io, Meta Pixel.

a. Essential Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and provide basic features, which may include maintaining your session and preventing security threats. We cannot disable these cookies in our systems without affecting how the Website works. However, if you wish, you can block or delete them by changing your browser settings and forcing the blocking of all cookies on the Website.

b. Non-essential cookies

Non-essential cookies provide certain non-essential features on our Site for functional, analytical, or advertising purposes. We will ask for your consent before using these cookies.

  • Functional cookies: We use these cookies to facilitate non-essential features of our website, such as embedding content like videos or sharing website content on social media.
  • Advertising Cookies: Our Site displays advertisements. These cookies help us track the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns and personalize our ads so that they are relevant to you.
  • Analytics Cookies: These cookies store information such as the number of visitors to our site or the pages they have visited. They help us understand and analyze our website’s performance and identify potential improvements.

c. How to Manage Cookies

You can manage and disable cookies through your browser’s cookie settings and your mobile device’s advertising settings. However, if you refuse cookies, you may not be able to use all the features of the Site or the Platforms, and you will continue to receive advertisements, but they will no longer be as tailored to your needs.

Your advertising choices

Bankeo will not send unsolicited emails to the Customer or Individual and will only communicate with the Customer or Individual for the purposes described in this Policy. If the Customer wishes to unsubscribe from Bankeo’s mailing list (newsletter), they may do so by clicking the unsubscribe link included in each communication, or by contacting Bankeo’s customer service at contact@bankeo.ca.

Changes to this privacy policy

We revise this Policy from time to time to comply with applicable laws and to reflect our operations. If we make significant updates to this Policy, we will notify you by posting a notice on our Website. In all other cases, the publication of a new version of the Policy on our Website will serve as sufficient notice and consent to the changes in the Policy.

Contact us

Our Privacy Officer is available to answer any questions, requests, or complaints regarding Bankeo’s practices for managing personal information. Here are their contact details:

Privacy Officer

Brian Bergeron

Bankeo Services

240-4600 Henri-Bourassa Blvd., Quebec City, QC, G1H 3A5

Email: rprp@bankeo.ca

Phone: 1-855-720-3250

Bankeo would like to inform you that we are committed to responding promptly and accurately to all your questions and concerns regarding the privacy and security of Personal Information, as well as our policies and practices regarding the protection of Personal Information.