Acorn Brokerage Limited trading as Ask Acorn, Privacy Statement
Your Privacy and Data Protection
Please read this Statement carefully as this sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us.
Controller Processing
As a controller we determine the purpose and means of processing your personal data. This statement outlines the personal data we collect and how it is processed.
Joint Controller Processing
In certain circumstances and for the purposes of data protection laws, Acorn Brokerage Ltd and Acorn Life DAC are “joint controllers” of the processing of certain types of your personal data described in this statement. This means that both businesses work together to decide why and how your personal data is processed. It also means that we are jointly responsible to you under data protection laws for that processing.
Who we are
Acorn Brokerage is an Irish owned company based in Galway City. We are dedicated to achieving excellence through delivering a superior customer experience nationwide by offering access to quality products, service and value for money in the Irish General Insurance Market.
Purpose for processing your data
As an Insurance Broker, the personal data Acorn Brokerage collect from you is passed on to an insurance company in order to obtain a premium and provide you with a quotation in relation to a service you have requested, arrange a transaction on your behalf, administrate, manage your policy, provide premium renewal details and assist with claims as part of your service.
Personal data is collected by Acorn Brokerage to measure and/or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and, where applicable to deliver relevant advertising to you. The personal data we require about you (and where applicable, other people insured or named under your policy of insurance) will be gathered and stored safely as set out below. Where personal data is provided relating to a third party to us, you must confirm that you have explained to them that you may have provided their personal data to us and that we will process such personal data in accordance with and for the purpose outlined below but not limited to:
What information do we collect?
The information we collect about you includes the following:
| 1. | Contact and Identifying information, e.g., name, address, contact details; email, mobile, landline |
| 2. | Unique identifiers e.g. – PPS number – pension scheme reference number insurance policy numbers |
| 3. | Demographic details, age, gender, marital status, lifestyle, and insurance requirements; date of birth, dependents, photo ID, as well as collecting personal information about you, we may also use personal information about other people, for example family members you wish to insure on a policy. E.g., your children/spouse |
| 4. | Family and Beneficiary Data, e.g., dependants, next of kin or nominated beneficiaries, Power of Attorney, Enduring Power of Attorney. Details of Solicitor/Tax Advisor/Accountant. |
| 5. | Employment information e.g., role, employment status (such as full/part time, contract), salary information, employment benefits, and employment history; This information is necessary for our Fact Find with our clients. |
| 6. | Publicly available sources: e.g., Information about you in the public domain such as Director information from the Companies Registratior |
| 7. | Health information such as information about your health status, medical records and medical assessment outcomes; We collect medical information relating to personal habits (e.g., smoking and consumption of alcohol), medical history. |
| 8. | Pensions and Insurance Benefits information such as current benefits, pension entitlement information, date of retirement and any relevant matters impacting your benefits such as voluntary contributions, PAO |
| 9. | Financial details e.g., bank account details, details of your credit history and bankruptcy status, salary, tax code, third-party deductions, bonus payments, benefits and entitlement data, national insurance contributions details |
| 10. | Claims Data – From you and any relevant third parties. |
| 11. | Marketing preferences: we will only send you direct marketing if you explicitly consent. |
| 12. | Online information: e.g., information about your visits to our websites |
| 13. | Social media information (e.g., likes and posts) with our social media presence; this includes, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook please |
| 14. | Criminal records information e.g., the existence of or alleged criminal offences, or confirmation of clean criminal records for motor products. |
| 15. | Searches that we undertake in relation to sanctions, money laundering and credit checks. |
| 16. | Calculators on our website. We use this data to perform calculations to prepare quotations for car, home and van insurance |
When we collect sensitive personal data as defined within the GDPR we will ensure that we require this information, and we have your explicit consent and/or authorisation prior to our collection. Please see the further information contained in this Privacy Notice that outlines special categories of personal data.
Why we are processing your data? Our legal basis.
In order for us to provide you with our Insurance, Acorn Brokerage need to collect personal data in order to advise you and arrange any contracts of insurance or related transactions on your behalf with Insurers/Insurance Providers. In some cases we may use your personal data to pursue legitimate interests of our own or those of third parties, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
Our reasons (lawful basis) for processing your data under the GDPR is:
| Purpose/Activity | Legal Basis for proceeding |
|---|---|
| To provide you with a quote for insurance | Performance of a contract |
| To administer your insurance policy, including dealing with any queries or changes, payments, renewals and processing a cancellation of a policy | Performance of a contract |
| To comply with laws and regulations | To comply with our legal obligations |
| Recording telephone calls (for quality, training and verification purposes) | Legitimate interest of the company |
| To provide you with marketing communications about Acorn Brokerages Products and Services | Consent |
| To measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you and others. | Consent – for marketing purposes Legitimate interest – to study how customers use our products or services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy |
| Market Research Data analytic including profiling | Legitimate interest to better understand our customers and improve service enhancements and business performance. |
| To prevent, detect and report fraud, money laundering and comply with laws and regulations. | To comply with our legal obligation |
Additional Processing
If we intend to further process your personal data for a purpose other than for which the data was collected, we will provide this information prior to processing this data.
Telephone Calls
We record and monitor calls for training and verification purposes and to meet regulatory requirements. We will let you know if a call is being recorded at the start of the call, so you can decide to continue or not.
Failure to provide further information
If we require your data for a contract and you cannot provide this data the consequences of this could mean the contract cannot be completed or details are incorrect.
Special Categories of personal data
If we collect any special categories of personal data (e.g. health, religious beliefs, racial, ethnic origin – financial information is not classified as special categories of personal data) that we obtain your explicit consent. Under the Irish Data Protection Act 2018 health data can be processed if it is necessary for insurance, life assurance or pension related reasons.
Who are we sharing your data with?
We may pass your personal data on to the following types of recipients:
- Insurance companies while we are in the process of carrying out the activities mentioned previously.
- Statutory and Regulatory bodies e.g. Central Bank of Ireland, Revenue Commission, and law enforcement authorities.
- Our representatives including our employees, tied insurance intermediaries and contractors
- Companies that provide services in relation to telecommunications and postage, data storage, document production and destruction, IT and IT security, fraud detection, making and receiving payments, data analysis and management information, credit and regulatory checking, risk analysis, Legal advisors, promotion administrators, marketing and market research.
- Your authorised representative, where you have asked us to share your data with them.
Any third parties that we may share your data with are obliged to keep your details securely, and to use them only to fulfil the service they provide on your behalf. When they no longer need your data to fulfil this service, they will dispose of the details in line with Acorn Brokerage procedures.
If we wish to pass your special categories personal data onto a third party we will only do so once we have obtained your explicit consent, unless we are legally obliged to do otherwise or necessary for a task carried out in the public interest or for an exercise of an official authority e.g. a regulatory body.
If we transfer personal data to a third party or outside the EU we will ensure the recipient (processor or another controller) has appropriate safeguards in place that are in line with data protection laws e.g. contracts to protect your privacy.
If you hold insurance against a liability that may be incurred by you against a third party, where for whatever reason you cannot be found or you have become insolvent, or the court finds it just and equitable to so order, then your rights under the contract will be transferred to and vest in the third party even though they are not a party to the contract of insurance. The third party has a right to recover from the insurer the amount of any loss suffered by them. Where the third party reasonably believes that you as policyholder have incurred a liability the third party will be entitled to seek and obtain information from the insurer or from any other person who is able to provide it concerning:
The existence of the insurance contract,
Who the insurer is,
The terms of the contract, and
Whether the insurer has informed the insured person that the insurer intends to refuse liability under the contract.
Your rights as a data subject
At any point while we are in possession of or processing your personal data, you, have the following rights:
- At any time, you may:
- Ask us for a copy of your personal data.
- Correct and update mistakes/incomplete personal data.
- Raise a complaint with the Data Protection Commission.
- In certain circumstances you may:
- Delete your personal data.
- Restrict use or object to us processing your data e.g. for marketing purposes.
- Take your personal data to another provider.
- Exercise a right not to be subject to solely automated decisions.
Where you have consented to the use of your data, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time.
All of the above requests will be forwarded on should there be a third party involved as we have indicated in the processing of your personal data.
Should you wish to exercise any of your rights above please contact our data protection officer at the contact details listed above.
Retention of your personal data
We only keep your information for as long as there is a business reason, or where regulations say we must. Typically, this is for six years after our relationship with you ends. But it will vary depending on the type of data we hold, and the type of products/services provided to you.
Complaints
If you have an issue with how we are processing your personal data, you have the right to raise this with the Data Protection Commission at any time by contacting them using the following details:
https://www.dataprotection.ie/contact
Data Protection Commission
21 Fitzwilliam Square South
Dublin 2
D02RD28
Marketing
For marketing purposes we may contact you in relation to special offers, competitions, products and services where we believe this will be of interest to you. If we send this information in the form of email, post, SMS, telephone or targeted online advertisements, we will only do so if you have provided us with consent. We take steps to limit direct marketing to a reasonable and proportionate level. If we share use or share information with online sources such as websites, social media and information sharing platforms to help tailor and improve our services or communicate with your effectively, we will respect any permission you have set about how you would like your personal information to be used. Should you prefer not to receive this type of communication from us, you can opt out by contacting us as specified below. All emails and texts will also contain a link to unsubscribe or opt out of future marketing communications from Acorn Brokerage. Where you have reviewed our services, we may use this review on our website or on social media for marketing purposes.
Where you have reviewed our services, we may use this review on our website or on social media for marketing purposes.
Cookies
Cookies are small data files sorted on your device whenever you visit a website. We use cookies to collect information that will allow us to tailor advertising to make it more relevant to you, based on your previous interactions with our website. We also use cookies to make our website more efficient and to help us to optimise our site for an improved browsing experience. For further details on our use of cookies please refer to our Cookie Policy.
Website of Ask Acorn
Please note that where you provide us with your personal information through a facility provided on our website or directly to us by email, you consent to us
A. Processing and administrating your personal data to perform all necessary actions to give effect to your request or instructions
B. Passing your request onto employees of Ask Acorn, any company within the Acorn Life Group and other Ask acorn agents or intermediaries for the purpose of dealing with your request.
C. Retaining a record of incoming and outgoing communications (e.g. Email)
D. Direct Marketing: Where you provide us with your consent, we may use your personal data for our own direct marketing purposes. If later you wish to change your mind and no longer agree to us processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may opt out at any time by contacting us at dataprotection@askacorn.ie
Information in the email we receive and send will not be disclosed to any third party except in accordance with points (b) and (d)
Privacy statement changes
Acorn Brokerage may change this privacy statement from time to time at any time without prior notice. By using our services you agree to this privacy statement.
This privacy statement was last reviewed in July 2024