Privacy Policy

Bridges Insurance Services is committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020. This Privacy Policy describes our current policies and practices in relation to the handling and use of personal information.

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What information do we collect and how do we use it?‍

When we arrange insurance on your behalf, we ask you for relevant information in order to advise you about your insurance needs and management of your risks. We provide any information that insurers or intermediaries require to enable them to decide whether to insure you and on what terms. Insurers may in turn pass on this information to their reinsurers. Some of these companies are located outside New Zealand. When you make a claim under your contract of insurance, we assist you by collecting information about your claim. Sometimes we also need to collect information about you from others.

We provide this information to your insurer (or anyone your insurer has appointed to assist in considering your claim, e.g. loss adjusters, medical advisers, etc) to enable it to consider your claim. Again, this information may be passed on to reinsurers. We also use your information to send you requested product information and promotional material and to enable us to manage your ongoing requirements (e.g. renewals) and our relationship with you (e.g. invoicing, client surveys, etc). We may do so by mail or electronically unless you tell us that you do not wish to receive electronic communications. We may occasionally notify you about new services and special offers, events or articles we think will be of interest to you. We may send you regular updates by email or by post on insurance matters. If you would rather not receive this information, email or write to us. We may also use your information internally to help us improve our services and help resolve any problems.

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‍What if you don’t provide some information to us?‍

We can only fully advise you if we have all relevant information. Insurance law also requires you to provide your insurers with all the information they need in order to be able to decide whether to insure you and on what terms.‍

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How do we hold and protect your information?‍

We strive to maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness and currency of the personal information we hold and to protect its privacy and security. We keep personal information only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or to comply with any applicable legal or ethical reporting or document retention requirements. We hold the information we collect from you as scanned documents on our data system.
In order to keep your information safe, our data system cannot be accessed from computers outside of our own network and our premises are protected by a burglar alarm with security company monitoring and guard response.‍

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Will we disclose the information we collect to anyone?‍

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others. We may need to provide your information to contractors who supply services to us, e.g. to handle mailings on our behalf or to other companies in the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganisation, dissolution or similar event. However, we will do our best to ensure that they protect your information in the same way that we do. We may provide your information to others if we are required to do so by law or under unusual circumstances which the Privacy Act permits.‍

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What should you do if something goes wrong?‍

If you have a problem, concern or complaint about any part of the service provided by Bridges Insurance Services Ltd, please tell us so that we can try to fix the problem. You may access our Internal Complaints Process by contacting a Director of Bridges Insurance Services on 07 839 7880. If we cannot agree on how to fix the issue, you can contact Financial Services Complaints Ltd. This service will cost you nothing and will help us resolve any disagreements. They can be contacted as follows:

Financial Services Complaints Ltd, PO Box 5967, Lambton Quay, Wellington 6145

Telephone: 0800 647 257  |  Email: info@fscl.org.nz‍‍

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‍Insurer Complaints:‍

All insurers have their own complaints process, which is separate to our process. If you wish to make a complaint about an insurer, please let us know so that we can provide you with details relating to the specific insurer and how to access their complaints process.‍

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How can you check, update or change the information we are holding?‍

Upon receipt of your written request and enough information to allow us to identify the information, we will disclose to you the personal information we hold about you. We will also correct, amend or delete any personal information that we agree is inaccurate. If you wish to access or correct your personal information, we have a dedicated Privacy Officer to whom you may address your requirements. We do not charge for receiving a request for access to personal information or for complying with a correction request.‍

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Your consent‍

By asking us to assist with your insurance needs, you consent to the collection and use of the information you have provided to us for the purposes described above.‍

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Tell us what you think‍

We welcome your questions and comments about privacy. If you have any concerns or complaints, please contact our Privacy Officer. (alana@bridges.co.nz)