Introduction
Acorn Brokerage Limited trading as Ask Acorn is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Registration Number 513124
Acorn Brokerage is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We wish to be transparent on how we process your data and show you that we comply with the GDPR in relation to not only processing your data but ensuring that you understand your rights as a client.
It is the intention of this privacy statement to explain to you the information practices of Acorn Brokerage in relation to the information we collect about you.
For the purposes of the GDPR the data controller is:
Acorn Brokerage
St Augustine Street, Galway
When we refer to ‘we’ it is Acorn Brokerage
In this statement where we mention ask acorn we are referring to the services provided by the brokerage as an insurance intermediary.
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.
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.
Our Data Protection Officer / GDPR Owner and data protection representatives can be contacted directly here:
In writing to: ask acorn, St Augustine Street, Galway
Email: dataprotection@askacorn.ie
Phone: 0818 800 222
Purpose for processing your data
As an Insurance Broker, the personal data ask acorn 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 our organisation collects 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 reason) 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 |
In any event, Acorn Brokerage are committed to ensuring that the information we collect and use is appropriate for this purpose, and does not constitute an invasion of your privacy in keeping with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018.
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 insurance companies while we are in the process of carrying out the activities mentioned previously. We may share your personal data with Statutory and Regulatory bodies, our representatives including our employees, tied insurance intermediaries and contractors including 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. We will also share your information with your authorised representative. 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.
We have issued all our third party processors with a Data Processor checklist asking them GDPR specific questions
If we transfer personal data to a third party or outside the EU we as the data controller will ensure the recipient (processor or another controller) has provided the appropriate safeguards and on condition that enforceable data subject rights and effective legal remedies for you the data subject are available.
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.
Data Subjects Rights:
ask acorn facilitate you, our client’s, rights in line with our data protection policy and the subject access request procedure. This is available on request.
Your rights as a data subject
At any point while we are in possession of or processing your personal data, you, the data subject, have the following rights:
- Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.
- Right of rectification – you have a right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Right to be forgotten – in certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records.
- Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply to have a right to restrict the processing.
- Right of portability – you have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.
- Right to object – you have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing, or use of your personal information based on our legitimate business interests (including profiling) or a public interest.
- Right to object to automated processing, including profiling
- Right to judicial review – in the event that Acorn Brokerage refuses your request under rights of access, we will provide you with a reason as to why.
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 below.
Additional information we are providing you with to ensure we are transparent and fair with our processing to show our commitment to transparency to you
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
In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how your personal data is being processed by Acorn Brokerage or how your complaint has been handled, you have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the supervisory authority and Acorn Brokerage Data Protection Officer / GDPR Owner. We would like it if you contacted us first to see if we can resolve the issue. 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
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.
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.
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 (at all times in accordance with GDPR)
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)
Contact Us
Your privacy is important to us. If you have any comments or questions regarding this statement, please contact us on
Email: dataprotection@askacorn.ie
Telephone: 0818 800 222
Privacy policy statement changes
Acorn Brokerage may change this privacy policy from time to time at any time without prior notice. When such a change is made, we will post a revised version online. Changes will be effective from the point at which they are posted. It is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically so you’re aware of any changes. By using our services you agree to this privacy policy.
This privacy policy was last reviewed in April 2024