Privacy Policy

We collect the information necessary for us to provide you with the products and services you have requested from us, and to manage your claims. We will only collect your sensitive information if you have provided us with consent to do so. Where practicable, we will give you the option of interacting with us anonymously.

The information we collect and hold generally includes your name, address, date of birth, and contact details (such as your phone number, fax number and/or email address).

However, we may also collect and hold other information required to provide services or assistance to you, including your gender, employment, details of your previous insurances, sensitive information (such as health information and criminal records), claims history, financial institution account details like your credit card or bank account number e.g. if the product or service is being paid for in this way or we are making a claim payment, your personal assets and those of your spouse or partner.

We may collect your information in various ways, including via telephone, our website, hard copy forms or email. Whenever you choose to deal with us directly, we will where possible, collect this information directly from you.

However, there may be occasions when we collect your information from someone else. This may include your broker or financial adviser, our authorised representatives, other insurers, employers, our distributors, agents or related entities, medical practitioners and rehabilitation providers, another party involved in a claim, investigators, family members, anyone you have authorised to deal with us on your behalf, and/or our legal advisors.

On all occasions, your information is collected, held, used and disclosed by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may also seek to collect information about someone else from you (for example, if you request a product or service jointly with another person). However, you must not provide us with information about another person unless you have clear consent from that person to do so and let them know about this Privacy Policy and where to find it.

We only use your information for the purpose for which it was provided to us, related purposes and as permitted by law. Such purposes include:

• responding to your enquiries;
• providing you with the assistance you requested of us, our products and services (for example, fulfilling requests for quotes or applications for insurance, underwriting and pricing policies, issuing you with a policy, managing claims, making payments, etc);
• maintaining/administering your account and policies and making payments you have authorised;
• processing your survey or questionnaire responses for the purpose(s) notified in the survey or questionnaire (if you have chosen to participate in such);
• for market research so that we can better understand our customers’ needs and tailor our future products and services accordingly;
• providing you with marketing information regarding other products and services (of ours or of a third party) which we believe may be of interest to you, if you have opted-in to receive such information;
• quality assurance and training purposes; and
• any other purposes identified at the time of collecting your information.

However, we will only use your sensitive information for the purposes for which it was initially collected, other directly related purposes or purposes to which you otherwise consent.

If you are not a customer (for example, if you are a medical practitioner, investigator, expert, claimant or other third party), your information will only be used for the specific purpose or claim for which it was provided to us, unless you have consented to other uses.

Where appropriate, we will disclose your information to our related entities and third parties who provide services to us or on our behalf, including:

• insurance advisers (such as Swann authorised representatives and insurance brokers);
• mailing houses;
• insurance reference bureaux, underwriters and re-insurers (and their representatives);
• other insurance providers;
• any credit providers that have security over your property;
• in the case of some claims (or likely claims), assessors, repairers, builders, investigators, your employer, medical practitioners, rehabilitation and other health providers;
• the external dispute resolution scheme we are a signatory to;
• our external IT service providers, infrastructure and other third party service providers;
• government bodies, regulators, law enforcement agencies and any other parties where required by law; and
• our related entities so that they can also offer you products and services if you have opted-in to receive such information.

If the ownership or control of:

• our business or company; or
• any of the businesses or companies owned by Insurance Australia Group Limited ABN 60 090 739 923 (including those listed in Appendices A and B of the IAG Master Privacy Policy),

changes (or an agreement is entered into to do so), we may transfer and disclose your personal information to the new owner or controller. This includes transferring and disclosing your personal and sensitive information prior to the change of ownership or control. In the event that we enter into an agreement to effect a scheme transfer of an insurance portfolio, we may transfer and disclose your personal information to the new insurer, underwriter and/or distributor prior to receipt of a court order approving the insurance scheme transfer.

We will only disclose your sensitive information for the purposes for which it was initially collected, other directly related purposes or purposes to which you otherwise consent.

A small number of our related entities and third party service providers are or will be located in countries outside of Australia (mostly in New Zealand, United Kingdom, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Singapore, South Africa, Fiji, Germany, the Netherlands, Vietnam and the United States). Our contracts with these parties generally include an obligation for them to comply with Australian privacy law and our Privacy Policy.

Please read this statement along with our Privacy Policy.

We take the protection of your personal information very seriously, so we regularly revise and update our security measures to keep your information private and meet industry standards.

Steps we take to protect your information

• We encrypt your information as it travels between your computer and our computers. We use a form of Transport Layer Security (TLS) to stop anyone intercepting your information.
• Your personal information is stored on computer systems which are protected by a combination of firewalls, secure logon processes, encryption and intrusion monitoring technologies.
• We use a recognised payment service provider to process any insurance payments you make using this website. This service provider is committed to protecting your personal information on our behalf.
• In certain circumstances we will collect and use your IP address to protect the security of our website.
• We regularly test our websites and infrastructure for vulnerabilities and take action where needed.
• We apply security patches to software provided by vendors.

Steps you can take to protect your information

It’s still very important that you take some steps to help keep up security when you’re online:

• Protect your personal information, such as usernames, passwords and policy details, by not allowing anyone to see you entering them, and avoid public wi-fi usage.
• Notify us as soon as possible if you become aware of any security breaches.
• Use a strong password for your account. Try to think of something that is easy to remember, but hard to guess, such as a passphrase.
• Change your password regularly and try not to reuse the same password on more than one site.
• Don’t let your browser save your password for our websites.
• Be wary of websites, emails or phone calls that claim to be from us. Please contact us if you are unsure.
• Keep an eye on your accounts and check for any unauthorised transactions.
• Keep your devices up to date with firewall enabled, anti-malware software, anti-virus software and security updates.

How do you make sure you’re going to the right website?

• Always go directly to our website by typing the address (www.swanninsurance.com.au) rather than following links found in emails or elsewhere online.

Keeping safe with email

• Never disclose personal, financial or debit/credit card information by email. Contact us if you’re unsure of the legitimacy of any email that appears to have come from us.
• We will never ask for sensitive or personal information such as usernames, passwords or policy details if you haven’t asked for our help first.

By helping us with these things, we can both work to make your world a safer place. To report any concerns around the security or privacy of your information please email cybersecurity@iag.com.au.

Read more at StaySmartOnline, an Australian Government online safety and security website.

We take reasonable steps to ensure the information we collect and hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, we rely on you to advise us of any changes to your information or corrections required to the information we hold about you.

Please let us know as soon as possible if there are any changes to your information or if you believe the information we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up-to-date.

We will, on request, provide you with access to the information we hold about you unless otherwise required or permitted by law. We will notify you of the basis for any denial to access your information. We may ask you to complete a ‘Personal Information Access Request Form’ which can be obtained by contacting Swann Insurance (refer to “How to contact us” below). We will not charge you a service fee for retrieving and sending the information to you.

We reserve the right to revise this Privacy Policy or any part of it from time to time. If we do so, we will notify you in such manner as we consider reasonably appropriate, including by making the revised version available on our website. Please review this Policy periodically for changes.

Your continued use of our websites, products or services, requesting our assistance, applying for or renewal of any of our products or services or the provision of further personal or sensitive information to us after this Privacy Policy has been revised, constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

What if you have a privacy complaint?

We will always do our best to provide you the highest level of service but if you are not happy or have a complaint or dispute, here is what you can do.

If you experience a problem or have a complaint regarding our handling of your personal information, let us know so we can help. Call us on 1300 307 926 or go to our website for more information on how to contact us: www.swanninsurance.com.au

If we are not able to resolve your complaint when you contact us or if you would prefer not to contact the people who initially handled your complaint, the next step of our complaint and dispute resolution process is to contact our Customer Relations team using the contact details below:

Free Call: 1800 045 517
Email: Customer.Relations@iag.com.au

Customer Relations will contact you if they require additional information or have reached a decision relating to your complaint. Customer Relations will advise you of the progress of your complaint and the time frame for a decision in relation to your complaint.

We expect our procedures will address your complaint in a fair and prompt manner.

If you are unhappy with the decision made by Customer Relations, the next step is that you may wish to seek an external review of the decision by raising your complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

You have a right in certain circumstances to have your privacy complaint determined by AFCA. AFCA can determine a complaint about privacy where the complaint forms part of a wider dispute between you and us or when the privacy complaint relates to or arises from the collection of a debt.

AFCA is an independent dispute resolution body that is recognised as an external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) by the OAIC to handle particular privacy-related complaints and is an approved EDR scheme by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). We’re bound by AFCA determinations, provided the dispute falls within AFCA Terms of Reference.

You have two years from the date of our letter outlining our final decision to make an application to AFCA for a determination.

You can access AFCA dispute resolution services by contacting them at:

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority

Website: www.afca.org.au
Email: info@afca.org.au
Phone: 1800 931 678 (free call)
Mail: GPO Box 3 Melbourne Victoria 3001.

If you are unhappy with AFCA’s determination in relation to your complaint, or if AFCA is unable to hear your complaint, the next step is that you may wish to raise your complaint with the OAIC.

The OAIC is an independent government agency with primary functions that relate to privacy, freedom of information and government information policy. The OAIC’s responsibilities include conducting investigations, reviewing decisions, handling complaints, and providing guidance and advice. The OAIC will act as an impartial third party when addressing your complaint. The OAIC will investigate your complaint, and where appropriate, make a determination about your complaint, provided it is covered by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

The contact details for the OAIC are:

Website: www.oaic.gov.au
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992
Mail: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001

Call us on 1300 307 926 or go to our website for more information on our complaint and dispute resolution process or how to contact us: www.swanninsurance.com.au.

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or its implementation, please call us on 1300 307 926 or email us on info@swanninsurance.com.au.

Download our privacy policy here.