Cookie Policy
1. What are cookies?
Cookies are tiny files that are stored on your computer whenever you visit a website. They contain information on your web browser and the website in question.
A cookie consists of a name and content. They are stored in a special directory on your hard disk and have a unique ID and lifetime. If you revisit the same website, it uses a cookie to recognize you as a previous user and to build up your browsing history. Certain cookies are automatically deleted when you leave the website. Others remain on your computer unless you delete them yourself.
Cookies cannot harm your computer. They are used primarily to make it easier for visitors to navigate a website: once a cookie has identified you as a return visitor, you no longer need to re-enter information you have already typed in. Companies also use cookies to track people’s browsing patterns. How many websites do they visit? Which ones are these and how often do they visit them? How long do they stay on a given website and how do they get there? Companies can use this information to improve their websites, adjusting them to users’ behavioral patterns and wishes and thus enabling them to show users certain personalized information.
2. What different types of cookie are there?
There are two basic types of cookie:
- First-party cookies, also known as ‘direct cookies’. They are used to improve a website’s technical performance, for example by controlling the user’s language preference. First-party cookies are created and stored on your computer by the websites you visit.
- Third-party cookies, also known as ‘indirect cookies’. These are created and stored on your computer by a party other than the website you are visiting, i.e. a third party. They store information on your browsing behaviour and are created for example by social media (such as Facebook and Twitter), but also by services such as Google Analytics. The companies in question use these cookies to produce all sorts of metrics about a person’s browsing behaviour, e.g. the number of websites they visit, the amount of time spent on each website and on each page, etc.
The law does not distinguish between first-party and third-party cookies. The key issue here is consent: the owner does not need to ask for permission to set cookies that are needed to ensure that the website works properly; in the case of all other cookies, they must ask the user to give his or her consent.
3. What sort of cookies do we use?
Phoenix Capital uses both first-party and third-party cookies. The vast majority of the cookies used on our various websites are first-party cookies. These are designed to improve the user experience. But how? Well, the cookies record certain data about users, such as their language preference, the web pages they visit, and the amount of time they spend on the websites. You will need to accept these cookies in order to benefit fully from our websites.
Our website also uses Google Analytics cookies.
Google Analytics is a free Google service that collects web statistics and displays the results to a high level of detail. Website managers can use this information to build up a picture of visitor flows, traffic sources and page displays. This allows them to adapt certain parts of a website – or indeed an entire website – to match the behaviour and interests of its users. That’s why we use the statistics generated by Google Analytics.
4. How can you manage your cookies?
You can manage your cookies by adjusting the settings on your web browser. You can choose between blocking
all cookies and only accepting cookies from certain websites.
What if you block our cookies? Will this affect the ease of use of our websites? Well, yes and no. Even if you
block either all or certain specific cookies, you can still visit our websites. You will, however, find that your user
experience will be less satisfactory if you refuse to accept any cookies. Certain websites, and certain parts of
our website, will not work properly. For this reason, we would advise you not to block all cookies.
Here’s how you can manage cookies on the most commonly used web browsers:
You can also install the 'Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on' in Google. This enables you to stop Google Analytics from using any specific user information that is passed on either to Phoenix Capital website or to other websites.
