Zurich's Privacy Policy


In this Privacy Policy “Zurich”, “we”, “our” and “us” means Zurich Financial Services Australia Ltd and all the Zurich companies listed below in the section on ‘Which Companies are covered by this Policy’.

We value the privacy of your personal information. We are committed to handling your personal information responsibly and in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988. By applying for, renewing, using any of our products or services, making a claim or providing us with your personal information you consent to your information being collected, held, used and disclosed as set out in this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy should be read in conjunction with the Privacy Statement that was issued in respect to the type of relationship you have with us. To review a sample privacy statement, please refer to the ‘Zurich’s Privacy Statement’ section.

What is ‘personal information’?

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

  • Whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
  • Whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

What type of information does Zurich collect and hold?

The type of personal information we hold about you or other individuals varies depending on the type of product or service we provide to you. For example, Zurich will hold different personal information about you or other individuals if you have a life insurance policy than we will hold if you have a managed investment or a general insurance product.

In general, Zurich may hold the following personal information:

  • Name and address
  • Date of birth
  • Contact details, which may include your telephone number and email address.

Depending on the type of product or service you select we may also hold the following information about you:

  • Occupation
  • Type of property that is being insured
  • Government issued identification numbers such as Tax file number, driving license or passport number, where you have given it to us
  • Payment card number or bank account details
  • Insurance claim information, where this is relevant
  • Your employment information
  • Your salary
  • The names and addresses of your dependents or beneficiaries
  • Other information that you have given us.

For employment applications Zurich may also hold the following information about you:

  • Employment history
  • Education qualifications and professional associations
  • Details of your referees
  • Details on your eligibility for employment such as residency status
  • Other information required as part of the recruitment process
  • Background checks, where you have given your consent to us.

We may also collect sensitive information such as:

  • Health or medical information
  • Racial or ethnic origin
  • Sexual preferences or practices
  • Membership of political, professional or trade associations
  • Criminal convictions and driving offences.

If we are not able to collect your personal information, we may not be able to process your application, administer your policy or assess your claim.

How does Zurich collect and hold your personal information?

We may collect personal information about you and other individuals in different ways including:

  • In writing, including by electronic or hard copy forms
  • By telephone
  • By email
  • In person
  • Over the internet such as via our website, cookies, online forms or social media.

We may collect your information:

  • Directly from you;
  • From publicly available sources of information; and/or
  • From other parties including:
    • Your intermediary or professional adviser(s)
    • Other insurers, reinsurers or distribution partners
    • Our service providers and business partners including our banking gateway provider and credit card transaction processor
    • Third parties who, at the time of collection, have notified you that your information will be provided to us
    • Government, statutory or regulatory body and law enforcement bodies
    • Other third parties
    • Any one that you have authorised to deal with us.

For a more detailed list please refer to the ‘Who does Zurich share information with’ section.

If you provide personal information to us about another individual, you agree to:

  • Inform them that you are disclosing their personal information to us;
  • Collect their consent to do so;
  • Direct them to the Zurich Privacy Policy; and
  • Make them aware of the content of the Privacy Collection Statement we provided you with.

Who does Zurich share information with?

Zurich collects personal information about you to provide you with our products and services. Zurich will also, where relevant and subject to any consents required under applicable law, disclose your personal information (including in some cases sensitive information) for the Purposes as outlined in Zurich’s Privacy Statement to:

Other companies in the Zurich Insurance Company Limited Group (the “Zurich Group”). The business activities of the Zurich Group are performed by various business functions which will sometimes require the exchange of information between various Zurich entities.

Your intermediary, including your professional adviser(s) or any representative or person acting on your behalf or a joint insured on your policy.

Other insurers or distribution partners as required to carry out activities such as providing insurance or managing a claim.

Reinsurers for the purposes of reinsuring policies. (For a list of relevant reinsurers and their contact details please contact the Privacy Officer, see below).

Service providers that assist us in carrying out our business activities, such as, banking gateway providers, credit card transaction processors, investigators, claims adjusters, claims administrators, surveyors, repairers, builders, engineers, assessors, recovery agents, insurance reference bureaus, accountants, auditors, hospitals or medical professionals, rehabilitation providers, legal advisers, mediators, IT providers, suppliers professional advisers, image and document management service provider or mailing houses.

Our business partners, including for example a corporate or alliance partner (such as a company that referred you Zurich).

Other third parties as required to carry out activities such as assessing a claim in the event of loss or damage, including financial institutions (who for example issued the credit card under which a claim is made), another party involved in a court action or a claim (such as a third party claimant or witness), Insurance Council of Australia, dispute resolution bodies including the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, external administrators (particularly for investment and superannuation products), an employer, the policy owner, other insureds, custodian or trustee (who is associated with a superannuation fund, investment or managed fund or a life insurance policy) and interested parties on a policy (for example a bank or premium funder).

Government, statutory or regulatory body and law enforcement bodies, such as tax authorities, Centrelink, Work Cover authorities, the RTA, Motor Accident Authority, Roads and Maritime Services or the police.

Information about a third party’s use and management of personal information (including any entity they may share information with, how to access or seek correction of information, and how to make a complaint) can be found in the third party’s privacy policy.

How do we store and secure your personal information?

At Zurich we take the security of personal information very seriously and we invest heavily in security protective measures to safeguard our clients and their data across our systems. Any personal information collected and stored within Zurich is secured using industry standard technology and processes.

How does Zurich use cookies?

A cookie is a small, text-based file used frequently on some websites and portals. They can be permanently stored on your hard drive (persistent cookie) or in your computer's memory (session cookie).

Zurich uses session cookies to interact with your browser. They are designed to assist and streamline the exchange of information between your computer's browser and our computer systems. For example, a session cookie is created after you log in with your user name and password and your access is authenticated. The session cookies assists in validating that Zurich's computer is communicating with your web browser throughout the time you access the website during the session. When you end the session by logging off or closing the browser, the session cookie is rendered inoperable.

Other cookies used by Zurich collect information about the use of Zurich's website. The information collected includes where visitors connect from, what version of browser they use and their path through the site. In some circumstances, cookies can also provide information to identify a person. It helps us to provide personalised features and to meet online expectations of our clients, to improve our services and products, as well as keep our content fresh and relevant.

When you apply for an insurance policy using our website or our online application forms, Zurich collects personal information about you as a part of your application. Once you submit your application online, Zurich may use cookies, which in this case may personally identify you through your application information, to identify traffic source, to improve our website and your customer experience, as well as to keep our content fresh and relevant.

Zurich may also use third party remarketing cookies e.g. through Google AdWords, LinkedIn Insight Tag and Facebook Ads. These cookies allow us to display tailored advertising to you on different websites across the internet and on social media platforms based on your prior visits to our site. Zurich and some of these third parties may also use the information to optimise ad selection for groups of individuals based on age, gender, interests and past visits to sites. Importantly, we do not collect any identifiable information about you through this remarketing process nor combine the anonymous information with personally identifiable information. You can opt out by managing your settings on such third party sites:

Google - https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&view

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-out

Alternatively, you can opt out of a third party vendor's use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page - http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/#completed.

The use of cookies however, is ultimately governed by you, as you can choose if and how a cookie can operate by configuring certain preferences and options in your browser. They need to be enabled if you wish to use the secure log in services here. Choosing to disable cookies may mean you are not able to access all features of the site including the secure log in services.

How does Zurich track website traffic?

Zurich utilises web analytics reporting software to report and measure traffic patterns to, from and within this website. The tracking technology collects various information, including the visitor’s domain name and IP address, which pages are visited, the number of unique visitors, paths taken within the website, duration of visits and entry/exit points to the website. A User ID may be assigned to an individual user to track engagement from one or more sessions initiated from one or more devices.

We use the aggregated reporting provided by web analytics to better manage, analyse and develop our websites, as well as to improve customer experience and improve our services and products.

When you apply for an insurance policy using our website or our online application forms, Zurich collects personal information about you as a part of your application. Zurich may use web analytics reporting software with this data to help us improve the services we provide. All personal information collected and held will be in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

The purposes for which Zurich collects, holds, uses and discloses this information

Zurich provides products and services, such as:

  • General insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Investment
  • Superannuation

We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the purposes of providing you with products and services and managing our business, such as:

  • To assess your application. For example assessing the risk and underwriting your policy
  • To administer the products or services provided to you. For example issuing a renewal or amending your policy
  • To manage a claim. For example managing and assessing claims made under your policy or recovering monies paid to you or debts you have incurred
  • To comply with our legal obligations. For example laws relating to anti money laundering
  • To enhance customer service and product options. For example conducting customer research or customer satisfaction surveys to improve our services and products.

Marketing

We may use your personal information (but not sensitive information) collected about you to send you material about other Zurich products or services. If you do not want to receive this type of material, tell us and we will stop. Our contact details are set out below.

We do not sell or pass mailing lists on to any third parties.

When do we disclose Personal Information to overseas entities?

In accordance with the purposes for which we have collected your personal information, we may disclose your personal information to a party located outside Australia. For example, we may disclose your personal information outside Australia:

  • For reinsurance purposes to reinsurers as part of the Zurich international commercial program
  • For Group wide activities and reporting purposes
  • For product or claims referrals to other Group companies
  • For information technology / system administration purposes
  • To provide emergency medical assistance services while you are abroad.

The countries where the person or company is likely to be located include Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Guernsey, India, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States of America. Also as a global insurer, in some cases we may disclose your personal information to another Zurich entity outside Australia. A list of countries where the Zurich Group has a presence can be found here www.zurich.com/en/contact-us.

How does Zurich handle a request for access or correction to personal information?

You have the right to request access to your personal information that we hold about you, and if applicable, to request correction.

Please contact Zurich using the contact details below in the ‘How can I contact Zurich?’ section.

Where you are entitled to access, the time we require to give you access will depend on the type of information requested. If we can, we will answer your question immediately. We will also try to answer you in the same way that you ask, for example, if you telephone to ask for the information we will, if practicable, give you that information over the telephone. We will generally respond to a written request in writing.

Sometimes, we will ask that you put your request in writing, for example, where you want copies of material or access to older information or files which are not current or it is necessary for us to retain a record of your request.

We may also ask you to identify yourself to our satisfaction.

You may be able to access some information yourself through Zurich's website. If you have difficulties with finding the information you want or using the website, please advise us.

In some circumstances, we may charge a fee for giving you access, which will vary but will be based on our costs (internal and external) in locating the information and the form of access you require. If we propose to charge a fee for giving access, we will give you an estimate of the fee so you can confirm that you still want us to give you access to the information. We do not impose any charge for lodging a request for access.

Please tell us if some of the personal information Zurich holds is wrong as we want our records to be accurate, complete, up to date and relevant. Unless we disagree with you about the accuracy or completeness of a record, we will generally correct it on request, (or suggest alternative arrangements for updating our records).

If we are unable to give you access or correct your personal information, we will tell you and provide you with reasons.

How do I make further enquiries or complain about a breach of privacy?

If you require more information about the way Zurich manages personal information, please contact the Zurich Privacy Officer using the contact details below in the ‘How can I contact Zurich?’ section.

If you wish to make a complaint about a breach of your privacy, please click on the below link that will take you to the complaints page:

Zurich Complaints landing page

How can I contact Zurich?

  • Call us Privacy Officer 132 687
  • Email us privacy.officer@zurich.com.au
  • Write to us The Privacy Officer Zurich Financial Services Australia Limited PO Box 677, North Sydney NSW 2059.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may review and amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we do so we will notify you by posting an updated version on our website (www.zurich.com.au).

Which Companies are covered by this Policy?

  • Zurich Financial Services Australia Limited (ABN 11 008 423 372)
  • Zurich Australian Insurance Limited (ABN 13 000 296 640)
  • Zurich Australian Insurance Properties Pty Ltd (ABN 79 002 463 292)
  • Zurich Australia Limited (ABN 92 000 010 195)
  • Zurich Properties Limited (ABN 80 000 010 962)
  • Zurich Investment Management Limited (ABN 56 063 278 400)
  • Zurich Australian Properties Holding Pty Ltd (ACN 620 869 230)
  • Zurich Services (Australia) Pty Ltd (ACN 627 298 337)

Zurich's Privacy Statement

Life Insurance, Managed Investments & Superannuation Privacy Statement

Zurich is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Before providing us with any Personal or Sensitive Information (‘Information’), you should know the following information.

We collect, use, process and store Personal Information and, in some cases, Sensitive Information about you in order to comply with our legal obligations, to assess your application and, if your application is successful, to administer the products and services provided to you, to enhance customer service or products and, where relevant, to manage claims (‘purposes’). If you do not agree to provide us with the Information, we may not be able to process your application, administer your policy, product or investment or assess your claims.

By providing us or your intermediary with your Information, you consent to our use of this Information which includes us disclosing your Information where relevant for the purposes, to the Policy Owner (where you are a life insured), your intermediary, affiliates of the Zurich Insurance Group Ltd, other insurers and reinsurers, our service providers, our banking gateway providers and credit card transaction processors, our business partners, government authorities or as required by law within Australia or overseas. These laws include the Australian Securities and Investment Commissions Act 2001, Corporations Act 2001, Insurance Contracts Act 1984, Life Insurance Act 1995, Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993, Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006, Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Rules Instrument 2007 (No. 1), Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, Taxation Administration Act 1953, Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, Small Superannuation Accounts Act 1995, Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999, Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993, Superannuation (Government Co-contribution for low income earners) Act 2003 and Family Law Act 1975 (Part VIIIB), as those acts are amended and any associated regulations. From time to time other acts may require, or authorise us to collect your personal information. Zurich may also obtain Information from government offices and third parties to assess an application or a claim. We may use Personal Information (but not Sensitive Information) collected about you to notify you of other products and services we offer. If you do not want your Personal Information to be used in this way, please contact us.

For further information about Zurich’s Privacy Policy, a list of service providers and business partners that we may disclose your Information to, a list of countries in which recipients of your Information are likely to be located, details of how you can access or correct the Information we hold about you or make a complaint, please refer to the Privacy link on our homepage – www.zurich.com.au,  contact us by telephone on 132 687 or email us at privacy.officer@zurich.com.au