Kingsway Financial Services Inc. Privacy Policy

Kingsway Financial Services Inc. Privacy Policy

Table of Contents Notice... i 1. Introduction... 1 2. Responsibility... 1 3. Personal Information... 2 4. Why Kingsway Collects & Discloses Personal Information... 2 5. How Kingsway Obtains Personal Information... 2 6. Kingsway s Disclosure of Personal Information... 3 7. How Kingsway Ensures The Security Of Personal Information... 4 8. Accuracy And Access To Personal Information... 5 9. Amendments... 5 10. Who We Are?... 5 11. Contact Us... 6

Notice The information in this document is proprietary to Kingsway Financial Services Inc. This document is classified Open access. Access is provided freely to all employees, policy holders, and other interested parties on the organization s website, through the organization s intranet and the organization s Chief Privacy Officer (the Vice President & General Counsel, Kingsway Financial Services Inc.). The Vice President & General Counsel, Kingsway Financial Services Inc., is the owner of this Policy. Version 2.2 i

1. INTRODUCTION The objective of the Kingsway Financial Services Inc. Privacy Policy is the documentation of Kingsway s commitment to respecting the privacy of individuals and a recognition of the needs of people with whom Kingsway does business (clients, customers, business partners) and employees for the appropriate management of any personal information provided to us. This policy applies to Kingsway Financial Services Inc. and all Kingsway affiliates in Canada (hereinafter Kingsway or the Company or KFS ) and all media (paper and electronic). The policy defines minimum measures that must be established throughout Kingsway. Individual companies or business units may establish additional procedures that are relevant to their operations. These procedures may provide additional detail, be more specific, and/or be more restrictive, provided they do not conflict with this policy. Employee understanding and participation is the cornerstone of an effective privacy policy. Feedback is vital for keeping the privacy policy (this document) useful and relevant to all employees, clients, customers and business partners. Your feedback could trigger an important review and update to the privacy policy, standards, or guidelines. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome and should be directed to the Owner of this document. Kingsway through its member insurers have been providers of insurance to Canadian individual and companies for many years. Kingsway has earned that trust in part by its careful treatment of the personal information that customers entrust to our care in order to allow us to serve their insurance needs. Kingsway does not sell personal information and Kingsway staff have been trained to treat personal information carefully and with respect. Further information about Kingsway s practices and policies with respect to its handling of personal information and compliance with privacy laws follows. 2. RESPONSIBILITY Kingsway s Vice President & General Counsel is the owner of this information and responsible for keeping it up to date. Kingsway business leaders are responsible for supporting the application of the Privacy Policy throughout the enterprise. All employees are responsible and accountable for capturing and retaining accurate and complete records of their activities. All employees must review the policy and acknowledge their understanding and compliance annually. The Vice President Corporate Internal Audit is responsible for obtaining these annual acknowledgments on behalf of the Vice President & General Counsel of KFS. Version 2.2 1

3. PERSONAL INFORMATION Privacy Policy Personal Information is information about an identifiable individual and may be oral, electronic or written. Kingsway collects widely varying types of personal information. What we collect depends on the particular purpose for collection and the particular circumstances involved. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing and purely by way of example, the type of personal information that Kingsway may collect includes: Name, address and telephone number Age, gender, family and marital status Driving records Property descriptions Previous insurance and claims experience Personal and family medical and health information Employment information Social insurance number Banking and financial information 4. WHY KINGSWAY COLLECTS & DISCLOSES PERSONAL INFORMATION Kingsway collects and discloses personal information only for the purposes of serving the insurance related needs of Kingsway customers. Among other things, this includes evaluating, monitoring and assessing the insurance needs, providing risk management services, underwriting, rating, binding and issuing insurance policies and providing all policy related or administrative services, including loss control, compliance with regulatory requirements and claims investigation, adjustment and coverage assessments. This also includes collecting and disclosing personal information about third parties with respect to claims made against Kingsway customers. The Company will make all reasonable efforts to fully inform individuals about the planned use/disclosure of their personal information. Kingsway will limit the collection and use of personal information to that required for valid business purposes or to comply with legislation. 5. HOW KINGSWAY OBTAINS PERSONAL INFORMATION Most of the personal information Kingsway collects is provided to us by insurance brokers. We believe that we deal with the most professional and respected brokers in the insurance industry. Version 2.2 2

Kingsway also obtains personal information from various third party sources as part of the underwriting and claims processes. For instance, when we underwrite automobile insurance, we may obtain credit information and a record of driving offences. We may also obtain claims or underwriting information from other insurance companies or insurance industry sources. Kingsway s insurance brokers are responsible for obtaining the consent of our customers with respect to the collection of such information. If an insurance broker tells Kingsway that we have a customer s consent to collect information, we will rely on the broker s advice. Kingsway collects personal information from a variety of sources in investigating, evaluating and adjusting claims. Personal information required for claims purposes may be obtained from our customers, our customers insurance brokers, or from third party sources. Kingsway may collect such information directly or through insurance adjusters, private investigators or lawyers representing Kingsway or our insured. We require only that reputable and properly licensed insurance adjusters and investigators investigate and adjust claims. Consent may be obtained by Kingsway directly or through an insurance broker, an insurance adjuster, investigator or lawyer when personal information is collected for claims purposes. Consent may not be obtained with respect to the collection of certain publicly available information. If the information is collected with respect to an investigation involving the suspected breach of an insurance policy (or other agreement) or breach of Canadian law, then consent need not be obtained. Any of the following will be treated as consent for Kingsway's existing and future collection, use and disclosure of personal information: Receipt of Kingsway's Privacy Policy, unless you advise us, either orally or in writing, that you do not agree with the terms stated in Privacy Policy, or that you wish to opt out of all or portions of it; your unrestricted provision of information to Kingsway either directly or through agents, insurance brokers, adjusters or financial services representatives; your express written or oral consent as obtained through an application process of the Kingsway group of companies, an agent or a broker; your consent as provided by your authorized representative, including a legal guardian or power of attorney; where you have obtained insurance for a third party, you represent that you have obtained consent from them, even though they might not be present during the application process; or where you request amendments to an existing insurance policy. 6. KINGSWAY S DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION Kingsway discloses personal information only for the reasons listed above or if required to do so by law. By way of example, in order to provide various claims Version 2.2 3

services we frequently disclose personal information to third party service providers. These would include but are not limited to insured, insurance brokers, insurance adjusters, windshield repair companies, automobile repair shops, contractors, construction companies, investigators, engineers, lawyers and others. Similarly, Kingsway may be required to disclose personal information in order to obtain further personal information that it requires for underwriting purposes. For instance, a name and insurance policy number may need to be provided to another insurance company to obtain a claims history. We obtain consent to disclose when required. Generally, consent to disclose is obtained by the customer s insurance broker (this consent may be obtained when the customer applies for or renews the insurance policy), by Kingsway or by the service provider. If an insurance broker tells Kingsway that we have a customer s consent to disclose information, we will rely on the broker s advice. When Kingsway discloses personal information to an approved investigative body (such as the Insurance Crime Prevention Bureau) or a governmental authority or when we believe that the information relates to the breach of an insurance policy or other agreement or Canadian law, or when we are required by law to disclose the information, consent may not be obtained. Similarly if personal information is disclosed to a lawyer for claims purposes or to obtain legal advice, consent may not be obtained. When Kingsway discloses data containing personal information to insurance industry associations or service providers, the disclosure is subject to confidentiality requirements. You may withdraw your consent at any time upon reasonable notice, subject to legal or contractual restrictions. Withdrawing your consent may affect your coverage and your insurance benefits. To withdraw your consent, you must contact our Chief Privacy Officer at the address or telephone number listed below. Unless we hear from you otherwise, you consent to the ongoing collection, use and disclosure of personal information as provided in Kingsway's Privacy Policy. 7. HOW KINGSWAY ENSURES THE SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION Personal information recorded in documents is securely stored at Kingsway s offices in Canada. Electronically recorded information is stored on computer systems maintained by Kingsway. Those computer systems and the information stored in them are protected by electronic security systems. Kingsway restricts access to personal information and Kingsway employees, contractors and representatives are under obligation to access personal information only when they have a legitimate business need to do so. Kingsway employees receive training with respect to proper personal information handling practices and Version 2.2 4

they are under obligation to comply with privacy laws, this policy and related codes of conduct. Kingsway s compliance with appropriate personal information practices and privacy laws is overseen by and is the responsibility of our Chief Privacy Officer. 8. ACCURACY AND ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION Kingsway is committed to the accuracy of the personal information that it uses or discloses. Upon written request to our Chief Privacy Officer, and subject to the following (and any other reasonable conditions which may be necessary), we will provide reasonable access to personal information exclusively to the individual to whom it refers. We will not provide access in any of the following circumstances: If doing so would likely reveal personal information about a third party; If the information is subject to solicitor-client privilege; If revealing the information would reveal confidential commercial information; If revealing the information could affect the security of another person; If the information relates to the actual or suspected breach of an insurance policy or other agreement or the breach of Canadian law; or, If the information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process. 9. AMENDMENTS Kingsway may amend this policy from time to time at its discretion. A current version of the Privacy Policy is always available on Kingsway s main website at http://www.kingsway-financial.com/privacy.html. 10. WHO WE ARE? In Kingsway s Privacy Policy, references to Kingsway, the Company, KFS, we, us and our mean, in each case, Kingsway Financial Services Inc. and its Canadian division operations and affiliates, including Jevco Insurance Company, Kingsway General Insurance Company, Avalon Risk Management (Canada) Inc. and Metro Claim Services Inc. References to you and your mean each individual whose personal information we collect, use and disclose. Version 2.2 5

11. CONTACT US Requests for further information, personal information access or complaints about Kingsway s handling of personal information should be referred to Kingsway s Chief Privacy Officer, as follows: Kingsway Financial Services Inc. 7120 Hurontario Street Suite 800 Mississauga, ON L5W 0A9 Attention: Chief Privacy Officer Telephone: (905) 696-1363 Facsimile: (905) 696-1763 Email: privacyofficer@kingsway-financial.com Version 2.2 6