Privacy Statement

Your privacy is important to us. At Booster we are committed to the responsible guardianship of your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.

This privacy statement explains how companies within the Booster Group (“Booster,” we,” “our” or “us”) (which includes Booster Financial Services Limited and any of its subsidiary companies) collects, uses, discloses and stores your personal information. It applies to any personal information we hold about you irrespective of whether it was provided directly by you or a third party and includes information captured in any form, such as paper, electronically or verbally.

Personal information includes information such as your name, date of birth, address, financial information, gender, tax number, health and/or medical information, occupation, pastimes, income or any other information that is particular to you.

We may update this statement from time to time, and the latest version will always be available on our website. The updated version of this privacy statement will take effect immediately once it is live on our website.

We may also take additional steps to bring any changes to your attention, including by notifying you directly. You are responsible for reviewing this privacy statement regularly to ensure that you are aware of any updates. Your continued use of our products, services, websites and tools will be treated as your acceptance of the updated statement.

In September 2023 we updated our privacy statement to ensure that all products and services offered by Booster were captured by this one statement. If any application form or other document or communication issued by us refers to our “Privacy Policy” it should be construed as a reference to this privacy statement.

When you provide your personal information to Booster, you are consenting to the use of your information by us as set out in this privacy statement.

When you provide information to us as part of the application process for a Booster product or service, you consent to Booster (and any third-party provider to Booster) collecting, storing, obtaining and/or disclosing personal information about you directly from/to any relevant third party professionals for the purpose described below.

When you provide us with personal information about any other person associated to a product or service that you are applying for, you confirm that you have the authority of that other person to disclose that information to us.

The information we collect about you and any other person will vary depending on the product or service you are using or applying for and your interactions with us. Typically, we will collect information such as general identification and contact information.

For some applications we will need to collect sensitive information – for example, applications for insurance may require information relating to your health, family medical history, pastimes, and occupation, and applications for KiwiSaver withdrawals may require financial information.

Personal information may be collected directly from you, for instance when you use our website to obtain a quote for insurance, request information, complete an application form, or when we communicate with you via phone or email.

Insofar that it relates to our business activities we may collect personal information about you from other parties such as a financial advice provider, or any other person who you authorise to represent you. If you have an insurance product with Booster, we may collect personal information from a health professional who you consult with, or an insurance and/or reinsurance company. We only collect your information from third parties if you have consented and we reasonably believe it is necessary to do so in relation to the products or services we are providing to you, or where permitted by law.

We generally record all phone calls for training and quality assurance purposes. In addition to the audio recordings of each call, we may also store the time, date, duration, and phone numbers.

When using our website, ‘cookies’ are used to collect anonymous online web traffic data and track movements of webs users. We use this data to understand how you use our website and how we can make your online experience with us more enjoyable.

Commonly used by modern websites a “cookie” is a small file sent to your computer. Cookies identify your computer; they do not record any personal information and are not used to identify you. Cookies cannot carry viruses and cannot be programmed. If you don’t want to receive cookies from us, you can set your browser to alert you of a cookie being offered, or to reject all cookies. However, this will affect the usability and functioning of the website.

We use the information we collect about you in the way described in this statement, or as prescribed by New Zealand law. We may use your personal information to:

• Verify your identity or address information.
• Administer and assess your application for a product or service, an insurance claim or a withdrawal.
• Provide, evaluate, and improve our products and services.
• Administer and manage your account(s), including responding to communications from you including requests, instructions, queries, and complaints.
• Communicate with you to ensure you have products and services that meet your needs, and to advise you of any changes to existing products and/or services, or to conduct surveys.
• Contact or market to you, including through social media.
• Conduct market research, data processing and statistical analysis activities.
• Protect and enforce our rights as part of our relationship with you.
• Comply with any legal and regulatory obligations, including requests from government agencies and regulators or interactions with the Supervisor of our schemes.

We may use your personal information to send you information about relevant products or services we consider may be of interest to you. This may involve disclosing your personal information such as your name and contact details (but not sensitive information) with our service providers. We have strict confidentiality agreements with the service providers we use for this purpose. If you prefer not to receive information about other products or services we offer, please contact us.

We may share your personal information with third parties if required to meet the purposes set out above, or where disclosure is required by law.

We may, with your consent, disclose personal information about you to your financial adviser, including any answers to the health and lifestyle questions collected in an application form for insurance cover or a claim made under any policy that we issue to you. If you have consented for us to disclose personal information to your adviser in relation to financial products, we will not treat that as consent to disclose information relevant to our insurance products unless you provide additional consent for that purpose. By providing us with your personal information, you are consenting to us disclosing your information with third parties, including but not limited to:

• Our related organisations who need the information to assist with the purposes listed above.
• Any person in New Zealand that provides services to or for us for the purposes listed above (including any medical specialists that we may refer to for insurance underwriting or claims purposes).
• Any person overseas that provides services to or for us for the purposes listed above, provided we are satisfied they will protect your personal information in a way that is comparable to NZ privacy law.
• Where our product or service to you includes you owing us money, organisations that provide credit reporting or debt recovery services.
• Organisations we outsource customer care or information technology services to.
• Organisations which provide us with research, analysis, or other related services.
• Organisations which provide us with marketing services or electronic platforms to enable us to communicate with you.
• In the event of your incapacity or death, the holder of your enduring power of attorney, the executor or administrator of your estate or the Policy Owner of a Policy where you are the Life Insured. 
• The Supervisor of our schemes.
• Government regulatory agencies or law enforcement agencies as permitted or required by law or where the disclosure of that information is necessary to avoid prejudice to the maintenance of the law, including prejudice to the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution, and punishment of offences.

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure the information you provide us is held securely and confidentially. These steps include:

• Physically securing our premises.
• Ensuring that any third parties which are required to access your personal information take reasonable precautions to protect your personal information.
• Maintaining computer and network security, such as user identifiers and passwords, to control access to computer systems.
• Taking reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information that we no longer legally require.
• Privacy training is mandatory for our staff, and we take privacy breaches very seriously. The procedures we have in place to protect your privacy include verifying your identity when you call us and hosting our website on secure servers.
• Where Booster must share information with an overseas recipient, that overseas recipient must also comply with their relevant territory law in relation to privacy. 

Access

You have the right to access any personal information we hold about you. To request your information, please contact us via our details below. We will need to take steps to ensure that you are authorised to request the information.

Under the Privacy Act we have 20 working days to respond to your request to access your personal information, but this timeframe can be extended in certain circumstances and if we advise you within the 20 working day period that an extension is required. We are permitted to deny requests to access personal information in certain circumstance, for instance where the information is legally privileged or commercially sensitive. If we decide to withhold information we will explain why and you are entitled to challenge our decision following the steps below.

We are permitted to charge a reasonable fee to cover the costs of processing your request for information, however, we would only do so in exceptional circumstances, and we would let you know before processing your request.

Correction

You can request that we correct any information we hold about you if you consider that information is inaccurate. You can do this by contacting us via our details below.

If we are unable to correct your information, we will advise you of the reason why and of your right to request that we attach your request to the information as a ‘statement of correction’.

You are under no obligation to provide us with your personal information, however, depending upon the nature of the information, this may prevent us from providing a product or service to you or allowing you to use any secure area of our digital platforms.

If you have an inquiry or a complaint in relation to your privacy or the use of your information, please contact us. We may be able to resolve the matter over the phone, but if not, we will ask you to put your inquiry or complaint in writing.

Inquiries and complaints about privacy relating to any Booster entity should be addressed to:

The Privacy Officer, Booster Financial Services Limited
Address: PO Box 11872, Wellington 6142
Phone: 0800 336 338
Email: investments@booster.co.nz

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you can refer the matter to Office of the Privacy Commissioner at enquiries@privacy.org.nz, PO Box 10-094, Wellington 6143 or by calling 0800 803 909.

How do I contact Booster?

Call us on 0800 336 338, Monday to Friday 8am – 8pm. If you’re overseas, call +64 4 894 4300.

Email us at investments@booster.co.nz

Last updated 01 September 2023