What happens to personal data I disclose for joining an employee stock plan?
My employer has offered me to participate in a stock incentive program wherein I will receive a certain amount of stock in their American parent corporation on the (ostensibly) sole condition that I stay employed with them for such-and-such period of time.
It turns out there is a catch: The stock can only be issued through a particular (American) brokerage, which refuses to create me in their system unless I answer a number of invasive personal questions (my marriage status? number of dependents? annual income? net worth? Am I active in politics? Etc. etc. etc.). They've made it clear that I will be thrown out of the stock program unless I answer the questions, and claim that they're asking on behalf of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which (so it is claimed) requires that stock brokers collect this information about everyone they have dealings with.
In other words, what I'm really being offered is a deal where I give out my personal information in exchange for a chance to get some possibly valuable stock later.
If I agree to this, what is the SEC going to do with my personal data? Nobody seems to be able or willing to give me the straight story, but I need to know this before I can make a rational decision whether the stock-for-privacy deal is advantageous for me.
(I am neither a resident nor a citizen of the United States).
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You aren't getting a straight answer because nobody knows why those regulations are the way they are.
Everyone has to give this information to open the brokerage account or for any access to the US financial system whether it is with a bank account, or a brokerage account.
Everyone also typically gives this information to their employer to be employed at all for IRS regulations.
The SEC isn't going to do anything with the data, unless you do something illegal related to the stock market, then they will know who you are.
The IRS isn't going to do anything with the data, unless you are noncompliant in paying taxes, then they will know who you are.
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