Southern Cross Pet Insurance Customer Privacy statement

We value your privacy and will always work hard to look after the personal information that you give to us. This is our Customer Privacy Statement and explains the way that we deal with your personal information.

The Privacy Act 2020 (Act) applies to people, not pets. This means that information about your pet on its own isn’t covered by the Act, or this Privacy Statement. However, if your pet’s information is linked to personal information about you, it may be treated as your personal information.

Please read this Privacy Statement carefully. When you acquire a policy from us you agree to us handling your personal information as set out here. We may update this statement, so please check back from time to time.

How will we use your personal information?

We may use your personal information:

to administer your policy,
to process, investigate and review any enquiries and any claims you make in connection with your policy,
to confirm if you are a member of Southern Cross Health Society to apply any relevant discount,
to help administer any products and services you take up with other Southern Cross-branded businesses,
to understand, improve and personalise your experience with us and with other Southern Cross-branded businesses,
for marketing, including telling you about products, services and offers from us, other Southern Cross-branded businesses or our partners. We may do this by contacting you directly, or via another Southern Cross-branded business. We also use advertising technologies for targeted online advertising to provide relevant messages to you and others on our own and third parties’ websites.
to prevent, detect, or investigate fraud or suspected fraud, and where appropriate to consider your eligibility for a policy.
to meet audit and compliance requirements. We use anonymised or de-identified data to do this wherever possible and always when we present the results, and
to conduct analysis and research in relation to the above purposes, where permitted or required by law.

How do we collect and share your personal information?

We aim to collect personal information about you directly from you. We may sometimes collect information that includes personal information about you indirectly from the parties set out below, and we may share that information with them as well:

Your vet - the personal information shared will comprise your (and your pet’s) details so your vet can provide us with your pet’s medical records and answer any associated questions to allow assessment and processing of any claims you make. When your vet submits a claim on your behalf using Pet Easy-Claim, this includes us exchanging policy and personal information with your vet.
Other pet healthcare providers - we may share personal information about you with other pet healthcare providers to process any claims you make.
Other Southern Cross branded businesses. This may include your contact details, date of birth, the products, services or partner offers you have taken up and various other details.
Trusted partners who may tell us you have taken up an offer or discount available to our customers as well as other business partners, service providers or any business that supports our products and services such as providers of IT services, advertising, market research and customer insight agencies.
Any third party authorised by you or where this is permitted or required by law

Do I have to provide my personal information?

Providing your personal information is voluntary, however we need complete and accurate information about you and your pet to process your application, claim and to provide your pet with cover. The consequences of providing incomplete, false or misleading information are set out in your policy document.

Managing your information: access, correction, preferences and security

We work to keep your information secure through our ongoing focus on cyber security along with employee training and awareness.

You can ask us for access to and to correct any personal information we hold about you Please get in touch on 0800 800 836 to do so. We do our best to ensure the personal information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up to date. Please help us do this by letting us know as soon as you can of any changes to your circumstances or contact details so we can keep in touch with the information you need to manage and understand your policy.

From time to time, we may send you marketing and other information by email or text. If you have provided your email address or mobile phone number, we take this as your implied consent to do this. You can opt out of receiving these messages by clicking on the unsubscribe function in the text or email or by calling us on 0800 800 836.

When you use our website or open our emails, we may track your interactions via cookies and similar technologies. See our Cookies Policy for more information, including how to control cookies in your own browser.

We regularly review, update safeguards and raise awareness about keeping the information we hold secure. We carefully screen other businesses that carry out services on our behalf (e.g. mailing houses, research and insight agencies and information technology providers) to ensure they meet our data protection standards.

We may use technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) to provide and improve our products, services and your experience as a customer. All content and outputs from AI tools are reviewed and approved before being used. We don’t share your personal information with unauthorised third parties when we use AI and maintain strong privacy and security controls at all times.

Need more information?

If you have any questions about how we handle your personal information and/or our Customer Privacy Statement, please contact us at [email protected].

Your information is collected and held by Southern Cross Pet Insurance Limited Level 1, Te Kupenga, 155 Fanshawe Street, Auckland City 1010.