What are Cookies?
Cookies are harmless text files that web servers can store on your computer’s hard drive when you visit a site. Cookies allow the server to recognise you when you revisit. There are two main types:
Transient (or per-session) cookies – these only exist for your site visit and are deleted on exit. They recognise you as you move between pages, for example, recording items added to an online shopping basket. These cookies also help maintain security.
Persistent (or permanent) cookies – these stay on your machine until expiry or deletion. Many are built with automatic deletion dates to help ensure your hard drive doesn’t get overloaded. These cookies often store and re-enter your log-in information, so you don’t need to remember membership details.We use both types of cookie.
What We Use Cookies For
Internet cookies do not harm your system and are very common – the just gather or store site information. They help you do things online, like remembering logon details so you don’t have to re–enter them when revisiting a site. We use cookies to:
1. Gather customer journey information across our sites
2. Ensure your privacy in our secure sites
3. Store login details for our secure sites
4. Temporarily store details input into our calculators, tools, illustrations and demonstrations
5. Store details of your marketing, product & business unit preferences to improve our targeting & enhance your journey through our sites & partner sites.
Evaluate our sites advertising and promotional effectiveness (we own the anonymous data collected, which is not shared with anyone) We use both our own (first party) and partner companies’ (third party) cookies to support these activities. We don’t use cookies to track people’s Internet usage after leaving our sites and we don’t store personal information in them others could read and understand. We will not sell or distribute cookie information without your prior consent.
Additionally, cookies can be first or third party cookies. First party cookies are owned & created by the website you’re viewing. Third party cookies are owned & created by an independent company, usually a company providing a service to the website owners.
Services Requiring Enabled Cookies
Some of our services require cookies in your browser to view and use them and to protect your financial and personal information.
Changing Your Cookie Settings
To enable or disable cookies, follow the instructions provided by your browser (usually located within the “Help”, “Tools” or “Edit” facility). Alternatively, an external resource is available at www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies providing specific information about cookies and how to manage them to suit your preferences. Please note that should you choose to set your browser to disable cookies, you may not be able to access secure areas of this website, for example any online accounts you may hold.