data protection

How we use personal information

This document explains how we collect, use and store personal information relating to individuals in a professional capacity when working for/as businesses who have a business relationship or transact business with us or provide us with a service, such as brokers, intermediaries and business contacts. When we refer to individuals, this includes any identifiable living person whose personal information we receive in connection with entering into and administering business relationships. 

We have a separate privacy notice for customers relating to how we use their information to provide LV= insurance products and services. You can read this at: https://www.lv.com/insurance/data-protection

We want you to be confident about how we use personal information. As a regulated company and data controller, we take the responsibilities for the security and management of personal information seriously. That’s why we invest in our systems and processes to make sure the way we collect, use, share, and store the information meets both the regulatory and our own high standards. 

Who we are and how to contact us

The Liverpool Victoria General Insurance Group (LVGIG) includes Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company Limited (LVIC) and Highway Insurance Company Limited (HICO). LVGIG is part of the Allianz Group. More information can be found at www.lv.com/insurance/terms/lv-companies

The data controller of any personal information given to us about you is either Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company Limited or Highway Insurance Company Limited.

You can get in touch with us by writing to: Data Protection Officer by writing to: Data Protection Officer, 57 Ladymead, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 1DB, or via email at dataprotectionofficer@allianz.co.uk

 

Personal information rights

Under data protection law, you have rights we need to make you aware of. The rights available to you depend on our reason for processing your information.

You have the right to:

 

• access the personal information we hold about you
• correct personal information you think is inaccurate or to update information you think is incomplete
• have personal information deleted in certain circumstances
• restrict us processing personal information, under certain circumstances
• receive personal information in a portable format - this only applies to information you have provided to us
• object to us processing personal information, under certain circumstances 

You can also ask us to have a team member review an automated decision.

If you want to find out more or to exercise these rights, please let us know by writing to: Data Protection Officer, 57 Ladymead, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 1DB, or by emailing dataprotectionofficer@allianz.co.uk

How we collect, use and share personal information

 

We only collect information we need and have strict controls to keep it safe. We collect personal information as part of business to business relationships when you’re acting on behalf of an  organisation/business.  The personal information collected is used to administer, manage and service our business agreements. We collect personal information such as name, address, email address, telephone number, date of birth and financial details. Information will be held in digital and / or paper files. We collect personal information when you provide information to us through online or paper business application forms or when you contact us by telephone or email. The personal information we collect will be used by us and third parties who process information on our behalf.  

 

 

Legal grounds for processing personal information

We collect personal information to carry out our responsibilities resulting from any business or commercial agreements that are entered into with us.

As a regulated financial services organisation, we’re required to comply with legal and regulatory obligations. This includes meeting our responsibilities to regulators, tax officials, law enforcement and any other legal responsibilities we have such as the prevention, detection and reporting of fraud and other financial crime.

We’ll process personal information for our legitimate interests, when we have a business reason to do so. This includes but is not limited to:

• developing, improving, and personalising our products, pricing and services
• enhancing our service and relationship (e.g. market research, business analysis, providing relevant product and service information)
• providing you with business to business marketing information about our services or products
• helping to detect and prevent fraud and financial crime
• developing and improving our administration, security systems and insurance applications
• sharing it with third parties in the event of organisational change (e.g. if we bought or merged with another organisation)
• sharing personal information with other LV= companies and the Allianz Group

If we need consent to process personal information, we’ll ask for this first. This consent can be withdrawn at any time. 

  

Bank account and payment card details

It may be necessary for us to process your bank account or payment card details during our relationship with you. We use a secure payment processor for all card payments. When a payment is processed, we share the details of the payer, such as the cardholder name and billing address, with the processor. 

We also share with them contact details provided by you so your bank can authenticate the transaction and help protect you against fraud. In response, we receive a unique transaction code and an extract of your card number, which we store as a record of the transaction. 

International transfers

In the event that we process personal information outside the UK, the processing in those locations is protected by UK and European data standards.

If the information you provide to us is transferred to countries outside the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA) by us or our suppliers, steps will be taken to make sure appropriate security measures are in place with the aim of ensuring your privacy rights continue to be protected.

 

The Industry Databases and Institutions we check and exchange information with

Financial crime & fraud prevention agencies

The personal information we’ve collected (e.g. we have to screen at firm and director level of anyone we remunerate) will be shared with crime and fraud prevention agencies, including their  members, law enforcement and other relevant organisations. LV= and these organisations will use it to prevent financial crime and fraud and to verify your identity. If financial crime or fraud 
is detected, you could be refused certain services, finance or employment.

 

Regulatory bodies

Personal information will be used or disclosed as required to regulators, for example Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), to monitor and enforce our compliance with any regulation.  

 

Credit reference agencies (CRA)

In accordance with the terms of business agreement, we’ll supply personal information about Directors and other professional business clients to credit reference agencies (CRAs) and they’ll give us information, such as financial history. We do this to assess creditworthiness, check identity, trace and recover debts and prevent fraud and other financial crime. 

We’ll also continue to exchange information with CRAs on an ongoing basis, including settled accounts and any debts not fully repaid on time. CRAs will share personal information with other organisations. This data will also be linked to the data of any joint applicants or other financial associates.

 

The identities of the CRAs and the ways in which they use and share personal information are explained in more detail at experian.co.uk/crain, www.transunion.co.uk/crain and equifax.co.uk/crain

 

Public information

We may use public information (such as the FCA register, electoral roll, county court judgements, bankruptcy or repossessions). 

 

Social media and published information

 

We may use published information, including social media, for prevention and detection of fraud.

 

Marketing

We’ll use personal information to identify appropriate audiences for our advertisements. The selected partners we work with to do this, do not use your information for their own purposes and we make sure they delete it, once we’ve identified advertisement audiences. We work with selected partners to display relevant online and offline advertisements, such as on third-party websites, social media platforms.

We may send you marketing information by email, post, phone and/or SMS related to our products and services. If you do not want to receive marketing, you can contact dataprotectionofficer@allianz.co.uk to opt out.

If you opt out of marketing, this will not stop you from receiving important service related information that we need to tell you relating to our business relationship.

 

Automated decision making and profiling

If you receive marketing information from us, profiling and automated decision making may be used to make our marketing more relevant, e.g. personalising the channels used to market to you, the marketing messages you receive and the information you’re sent. 

Where we make an automated decision that has a legal or substantially similar effect, you can request a team member to review that decision. We’ll consider your comments and assess whether the decision was made correctly.

Competitions, prize draws and similar promotions

If you enter any of our competitions, prize draws and similar promotions, we’ll use your personal information to administer these activities. These activities have additional terms and conditions which will contain more information about how we use and share your personal information.

If you send us your personal information to enter a competition, prize draw or similar promotion, we’ll process your entry details to allow for winners to be contacted after the closing date. Please refer to the specific terms and conditions of the competition, prize draw or promotion that you are entering for further details. If you enter via social media channels, your personal information is subject to the retention and deletion process of that channel, so please refer to them directly for information on how your data will be processed.

 

Market research agencies

We may share personal information with market research agencies who conduct market research and business analysis on our behalf. 

 

Communications

When you contact us, personal information you give us will be recorded and stored on our systems. Calls and web chats may be recorded.  This helps us improve our service, train our staff, respond to complaints and prevent fraud and other financial crime.

All communications will be in English. You can get documents from us in writing, braille, large print or audio format by contacting us.

 

Cookies and similar technologies

We use third-party advertising technology on our website, apps and emails, such as the use of cookies or small text files on our website or pixels within emails. We use cookies and similar technologies to provide online services, enhance your online experience, deliver content when you’re browsing elsewhere and help us understand how our website, apps and emails can be improved. We don’t store any contact details or banking information.  

 

If you want to find out more about our use of cookies, please see our cookie policy on our website.

 

Specialist services we use

We use other companies to provide some services, e.g. banks and building societies, legal service providers, communication services, debt recovery agencies, marketing agencies, reward voucher and incentive scheme administrators, fraud and other financial crime investigation services etc. They’ll be given the personal information they (or their sub-contractors) need to manage their service. 

 

Other information we use

We use the following to provide our services:

• payment validation (e.g. the registered address of the card)
• geo location data (e.g. information used to find an electronic device’s location)
• device recognition (e.g. the device you use to access LV=)
• ANPR (automated number plate recognition) (e.g. to identify the movements or whereabouts of a vehicle) 

How long we keep your personal information

If you contact us by telephone and the calls have been recorded, we’ll keep a copy of the call recording for up to three years to let us manage complaints, for training and monitoring purposes and to prevent and detect fraud or financial crime.

Personal information will be held for up to 4 years after the termination of the agency or the end of your business interactions with us for audit trail purposes, to allow for the completion of services under the business agreement, to help settle any potential disputes or to appropriately respond to agency re-applications.

In some cases where there’s a valid reason to retain the data, it will be necessary for us to hold your information past the specified retention periods listed. For example, where there’s a legislative or relevant regulatory requirement or for the purposes of any court proceedings or if there are reasonable grounds to believe the data needs to be retained for legal proceedings or the party, to whom the data relates, provides their consent.

 

Right to make a complaint

If you have any questions or concerns about the way we process personal data please contact us at dataprotectionofficer@allianz.co.uk

 

If you’re not satisfied with the outcome of your query, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office on 0303 123 1113 or visit ico.org.uk/concerns.

Changes

This Privacy Notice was last updated in September 2024. We may change this information from time to time.  Any changes will be made available on our website.