Investment Association
Camomile Court, 23 Camomile Street, London EC3A 7LL
A company limited by guarantee
Registered In England and Wales.
Registration Number: 4343737

What are cookies and how do they work?

Cookies are small pieces of data that are downloaded to a user’s computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Your browser sends these cookies back to the website every time you visit the site again, so it can recognise you and can then tailor what you see on the screen. A cookie often includes a randomly generated number which is stored on your device and many cookies are automatically deleted after you finish using the website. They make using websites much smoother and affect lots of the useful features of websites.

How we use cookies

Cookies on our website are used for the following purposes:

  • To keep you logged in during your visit otherwise you might have to log in on each and every page you go to
  • To make sure it is possible to navigate through the website smoothly
  • To analyse the use of our website through Analytics software such as Google Analytics

There are many different uses for cookies, but they fall into four main groups;

1. Strictly necessary/ Essential cookies

These are essential in order for you to move around a website and use its features. Without these cookies, services you have asked for cannot be provided. ‘Strictly necessary’ cookies are not used to gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remember where you have been on the internet.

2. Performance/ Analytics cookies

These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website. These cookies do not collect information that can identify a user of the site. All information these cookies collect is anonymous and is only used to improve the performance of the site. They only record activity on the site you are on and they are only used to improve how a website works.

For example they keep track of what pages and links are popular and which ones don't get used so much to help keep sites relevant and up to date. They are also very useful in identifying trends of how people navigate (find their way through) websites and if they get 'error messages' from web pages.

3. Functionality cookies

These cookies allow a website to remember the choices you make, such as your username or your location in order to provide enhanced and personalised features. For example a news website may store your location to provide you with the most up to date local news.

4. Targeting and Advertising cookies

These cookies are used for websites to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers.


Information collected

The cookies this website uses are:

Name of Cookie Essential or Non-Essential? Type of Cookie First or Third Party? Session or Persistent? Expiry Time Purpose
SessID Essential Functional First Session End of session Preserves user session state across page requests. Essential for site operation
lang Non-essential Functional Third  Session End of session User preferences

mw_cookie_consent

Non-essential Functional First Persistent 30 days Remembers that the user has consented to cookies
_gat Non-essential Functional First Session End of session Used by Google to throttle the request rate
_ga Non-essential Analytical First Persistent 2 years To distinguish website visitors
_gid Non-essential Analytical First Session End of session Generates statistical data on how a visitor uses the website


If you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our website, or indeed any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The ‘Help’ function within your browser should tell you how.

How do I disable cookies?

Full instructions for all browsers can be found at: http://www.aboutcookies.org/default.aspx?page=1

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Links to other websites

This cookie policy does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.

Further reading

If you wish to learn more about cookies in general and how to manage them, visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org