Privacy Policy Statement and Disclosure

Your privacy is important to us

The Co-operators group of companies has built client relationships based on a foundation of trust. We are committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality, accuracy and security of the personal information collected, used, retained and disclosed in the course of doing business with you. Only authorized personnel have access to your information and our systems and processes are designed to prevent the loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction of your personal information. When we request your personal information, we will explain the purpose and obtain your consent. We share your information only as required and in limited instances. We keep your personal information only as long as it is required.

What is considered “personal information”?

"Personal Information" means any information about an identifiable individual. Examples of what we may collect include:

• name, address, email and telephone number
• age, gender, family and marital status
• driving history
• previous insurance and claims data history
• medical and health information
• employment information
• banking information
• identification numbers
• assets and liabilities
• personal information that is made publicly available (for example, on the internet or social media)
• credit information (including credit score and/or credit report)^*

^*with your consent, credit information will be obtained from TransUnion (Box 338, LCD 1, Hamilton, ON, L8L 7W2) and this inquiry does not impact your credit rating. Your credit information will not be disclosed outside of the Co-operators group of companies.

The following are the purposes for which we may collect, use, or disclose your personal information:

Prior to collecting your personal information, we will explain the purpose of our request and obtain your consent. If we require your personal information for any other reason, we will contact you, explain the new purpose and ask for your consent.

As part of our relationship with you, we may collect, use, retain and disclose your personal information (and that of any other person(s) whose personal information is collected as part of your application) to underwrite your application for insurance, to administer your insurance policy, to assess and process claims, and to provide you with personalized products and services, information, and advice. Purposes for which we need your personal information may include:

• to verify your identity and confirm the information you provided in your application (such as prior insurance experience, claims history reports, credit reports (as applicable), determine your eligibility for our automatic payment plans, medical history, and driving history)
• to communicate with you by electronic means (e.g. email, telephone, fax) or regular mail
• to evaluate your coverage needs and recommend products and services tailored to you
• to determine the best premium available to you
• to analyze risk and risk selection, and in some instances to place your coverage with another insurer or reinsurer
• to investigate and settle your claims (including assessing damage or injury, determining benefits, or settling disputes with third parties)
• to manage reinsurance
• to meet regulatory requirements
• to detect and prevent fraud
• to conduct data analytics and market research
• to share additional information that may be of interest to you on behalf of our group of companies or our business partners (including insurance-related information and other financial products, services, offers, contests, and community events).

Who would we share information with?

We may collect, use and disclose your personal information with others where necessary and appropriately, but only if we need to for the purposes listed above, including:

• your financial advisor, broker, sales representative, or plan administrator
• third parties who perform services on our behalf
• police, witnesses, property valuators, medical professionals, benefits providers, or your employer
• credit reporting agencies
• insurance reporting agencies and industry databases (such as the Insurance Bureau of Canada and the Medical Information Bureau)
• industry data pooling and data analytics initiatives (such as the CANATICS fraud pooling initiative)
• any other person or organization that we need to involve to provide you with the product or service (such as provincial driving and motor vehicle licensing authority or other insurance companies)
• any other party with an insurable interest (e.g. lease & lienholders, mortgagees)
• parties involved in the sale, acquisition, disposition, merger, or amalgamation of companies or as part of other business arrangements such as joint ventures

Information may be collected by or transferred to a service provider outside of Canada for processing, storage, analysis or disaster recovery and may be subject to disclosure to those authorized under applicable laws of the foreign jurisdiction. We do not sell client lists and we will not share your personal information without your consent unless we are required to by law.

What are your rights?

You have the right to:

• verify and/or change your consent preferences specific to your personal information, credit file information, and marketing recorded in our client system or record
• customize your preferences about how we contact you
• access your personal information and request updates or changes to it (if inaccurate)
• tell us that we cannot use or share your personal information for certain reasons
• control our use of cookies, web beacons and similar technology when visiting our websites

If you do not provide us with your personal information, we will still do our best to provide you with our products or services; however, certain information must be provided in order to supply the requested products or services.

Use of cookies, web analytical tools, and similar technologies

The Co-operators group of companies use cookies (small text files placed on your device) and similar technologies to provide our websites and online services and help collect data. Cookies allow us, among other things, to store your preferences and settings; enable you to sign-in; provide interest-based advertising; combat fraud; and analyze how our websites and online services are performing. We also use web beacons to help deliver cookies and gather usage and performance data. Our websites may include web beacons and cookies from third-party service providers.

Web analytics provide non-personally identifiable statistical information about how visitors interact with our website and applications. The Co-operators uses a variety of web analytics tools on websites and applications.

The Co-operators has enabled Google Analytics (which includes the following features: Remarketing, Google Display Network Impression Reporting, the DoubleClick Campaign Manager Integration, and Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting). We may use information collected through Google Analytics in conjunction with other data we have collected about you. You have a variety of tools to control cookies, web beacons, web analytics tools and similar technologies, including browser controls to block and delete cookies and controls from some third-party analytics service providers to opt out of data collection through web beacons. Your browser and other choices may impact your experiences with our products. To opt out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display Network ads, please use the Ads Settings. To view the currently available opt-outs for the web, please visit Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. Google’s Privacy Policy is available by clicking here.

To opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies you can visit www.aboutads.info/choices.

Questions, comments or requests?

The Co-operators is a group of Canadian companies focusing on insurance and a range of wealth management products and investment services. The Co-operators group of companies includes:

• Co-operators General Insurance Company
• Co-operators Life Insurance Company
• COSECO Insurance Company
• CUMIS General Insurance Company
• CUMIS Life Insurance Company
• Federated Agencies Limited
• HB Group Insurance Management Ltd.

Please contact your Co-operators representative directly, or you may contact our Privacy Office. Please include the company you deal with in your correspondence:

The Co-operators Privacy Office
130 Macdonell Street, Guelph, ON, N1H 6P8
1-888-887-7773