Office of the Privacy Commissioner
PO Box 10094, Wellington 6140
Level 11, 215 Lambton Quay
Wellington, New Zealand
P +64 4 474 7590 F +64 4 474 7595
E [email address]
0800 803 909 Enquiries
privacy.org.nz
2 December 2025
Charlie Drummond
By email only to: [FYI request #32985 email]
Tēnā koe
Official Information Act Request (Our Ref: OIA/0486)
We refer to your Official Information Act request of 24 November 2025 for information
regarding the joint compliance investigation into Latitude Financial Services, which the OPC
and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) announced on 9 May
2023, limited to metadata about the OPC’s correspondence with Latitude Financial Services
and with the OAIC.
While I appreciate that you are seeking information about OPC’s activities and the progress
of the joint investigation, and that you have limited your request to metadata, we are not able
to provide the information requested at this time. Apart from published outcomes, the Privacy
Commissioner is subject to the obligation of secrecy under section 206 of the Privacy Act
and is not able to comment specifically on Privacy Act investigations. Where an investigation
is undertaken, the Privacy Commissioner wil consider making a public statement at the
conclusion of the investigation.
Please note that as this is an ongoing investigation of the matters set out in the
media
release, your request is refused under section 18(c)(i) of the Of icial Information Act on the
basis that releasing the information requested would be contrary to another Act. This is
because section 206 of the Privacy Act requires the Privacy Commissioner to maintain
secrecy in relation to all matters relating to the exercise of functions under the Privacy Act.
OPC’s regulatory responses are covered by the obligation of secrecy in order to protect
information in the course of an investigation
Section 206 enables our Of ice to keep information confidential. It is vital that we maintain
appropriate confidentiality in our investigation and compliance processes to protect the
integrity of our processes and for procedural fairness to the agencies concerned. This
enables the Office to engage in confidence with parties wishing to raise privacy concerns
and with parties holding information that is relevant to the exercise of our functions and
powers under the Privacy Act.
OIA/0486/A1141174
2
Conclusion
Please note that if you are not satisfied with this response to your request, under section 28
of the Of icial Information Act 1982 you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to investigate
and review my decision on your request, however we would appreciate the opportunity to
discuss this with you first.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Liz MacPherson
Deputy Privacy Commissioner
OIA/0486/A1141174
Document Outline
