Privacy Policy

At Buffer, we value your information. All information you share with us is kept confidential.

Your privacy is important to us. We respect your right to privacy and your right to view and update the personal information which we hold about you. We are committed to protecting your privacy when you visit our website, use our services or deal with us in any other way. We will only collect your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020 and this Privacy Policy.  As an existing or prospective client or as a website user, you are consenting to this Privacy Policy. If you do not want us to collect or use your information as outlined in this Privacy Policy, you should please stop using our website or services.

Collecting information from you
Buffer provides financial advice in relation to insurances.  In order to offer you financial advice we collect personal information from you, including information about your:
Name
Contact information (such as address, telephone number and email)
Date of birth
Computer or network (if online)
Financial and health details Interactions with us

We gather information in a number of ways but most of this personal information is collected directly from you.  In some circumstances we may be legally required to collect personal information for example to verify your identity and in other instances providing some information is optional.  We may be unable to assist you if you choose not to provide the personal information requested. We collect your personal information in order for us to take action requested by you (such as providing Financial Advice) or in order to provide information (such as policy information) or to assist a financial advisor to contact you. Buffer also collects various information about users of our website. 

Our Website Notice provides more detail on how we use cookies and analytic tools on our website.  It forms part of our Privacy Policy, but we have separated it so that it’s easier to find.

Security and Disposal of your personal information
We are committed to protecting your personal information.  We store personal information electronically and physically in New Zealand.  We store electronic information in New Zealand in our client relationship management system which is provided by a third party and some of which is cloud based. In order to protect the personal information that we gather from you, we have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to assist in safeguarding and securing the information we collect. Buffer is required to retain personal information in relation to clients by several New Zealand laws for example the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.  We usually hold personal information for at least 7 years although we may keep certain information for longer even if you’re no longer a client. Disclosing your personal information

You allow Buffer to provide your information to third parties that work with us to deliver financial products, services or communications to you. Buffer will require those third parties to keep your information confidential and secure.  They may use it only for the purpose that we give it to them for or as permitted by law and in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020, and this Privacy Policy. Buffer may also disclose information to the Financial Markets Authority and any other applicable regulatory or government agencies or independent compliance personnel as part of our obligations to meet regulatory and industry standards; any person or organisation assisting us to investigate any concerns or complaints or manage any legal action; and any other person or organisation as allowed by applicable law, including the Privacy Act 2020.

Newsletters and other notices
It is our policy to send communications to all Buffer clients to keep you updated with information that we believe is relevant to you. In addition, we may send promotional material to you regarding new or amended material where we think it may be relevant to you. You can choose not to receive information about our services. Click unsubscribe at the bottom of the email or you can call us on 0800 646 253, email hello@bufferinsurance.co.nz or tell your Buffer adviser if you don’t want information about other services we offer.
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Accessing and Correcting your personal information
The Privacy Act 2020 gives you certain rights to access and correct your personal information. Buffer will try to ensure that the personal information collected about you is up to date. Please help us by telling us as soon as possible if your information, such as your contact details, changes. Buffer clients can do this by contacting their Buffer advisor, call us on 0800 646 253 or email us at hello@bufferinsurance.co.nz

Updates to Privacy Policy
We may change this Privacy Policy at any time and without notice so please review it frequently.  We will take reasonable steps to tell you about changes.  By continuing to use the website, use our services or deal with us in any other way, you agree to the Privacy Policy current at that time.

Breach of Privacy
If we believe that there has been a privacy breach, we will identify the issue and take steps to minimize harm to you. If we believe the breach has caused, or is likely to cause serious harm, we will contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. We will also contact clients who may be affected by the breach.

Questions or concerns
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, you are concerned your privacy may have been breached or that we may have breached the Privacy Act 2020, please contact the Buffer Privacy Officer immediately by calling us on 0800 646 253, emailing or getting in touch with your Buffer advisor.

Privacy Commissioner
If you are not satisfied with our response to any privacy related matter you may have, you can contact the Privacy Commissioner at
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
PO Box 10-094
Wellington, New Zealand
Phone: 04 474 7590
Email: enquiries@privacy.org.nz
For more information on privacy see the Privacy Commissioner website.

Website Notice – Privacy Policy
This Website Notice gives more detail on how we use cookies and analytic tools on our website.  It forms part of our Privacy Policy. Buffer collects various information about users of our website.  We collect and use this additional information to carry out internal research on our users’ demographics, interests, and behaviour to better understand our clients’ needs and to improve your online experience with us.

This information may include:
what browser you are using, your IP address, the URL that you just came from and which URL you next go to (whether these URLs are on our site or not); information collected by us through click-tracking in relation to your use of the website, including the content you upload and the content you access; aggregated data, which tracks traffic to the website; and cookies, which are pieces of information transferred to your computer hard drive for record keeping (such as your preferences on our website).You can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer, however, if you do this it may prevent you from taking full advantage of our website, third party cookies and other technologies.  We use third party cookies such as Google Analytics cookies and other technologies for marketing purposes and to gather website analytics. You can opt out of Google Analytics without affecting how you visit our site. For more information on opting out of being tracked by Google Analytics please visit this page.

Cookies & Identifiers
We use cookies and identifiers on our websites. Cookies are small pieces of information captured when a device is used to access online content. We use cookies to ensure a more streamlined online shopping experience, to identify and store personal preferences. We may use temporary (session) cookies or permanent cookies when devices access our websites, which allows us to recognise individual browsers and track the web pages visited and web pages the device has navigated from. We use cookies to help improve the customer experience with us. See section above on opting out of cookies. Outlined below are some other reasons we use cookies: To keep track of products or services viewed, so that we can send directly or through third party service providers, information and advertising about those products or services, or other similar related products or services we think may be of interest. To measure traffic patterns, to determine which areas of our websites have been visited, and to measure transaction patterns, produce data of web traffic and customer web activity through our websites or apps. To research and analyse habits so that we can improve our products, services and online content and customise this to individuals. To operate our websites efficiently with a high level of functionality. To measure the effectiveness of our marketing initiatives, measure the number of advertising referrals we have received to our websites from other websites.

We also allow third parties to place cookies and other identifiers on our websites to collect information on your browsing history. The third parties use the information for marketing or advertising purposes and to display customised or targeted promotional, marketing or advertising material on our websites and on other websites or social media sites that you visit. Currently at the date of this Privacy Notice (and may change from time to time), third parties include Google Analytics, Alphabet, and Facebook.
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Remarketing
Remarketing is where your browsing history on a website is then used to show you advertising related to your history once you have left that website. For example, a product you have viewed on our website may be remarketed to you while you are accessing another website or social media platform. We supply cookie information (from your browser) about your browsing history on our websites to the following remarketing providers (current as at the date of this Privacy Notice and may change from time) Facebook and Google. If you wish to opt-out of remarketing, see Opt-Out Information below.

Opting out from cookies, analytics & remarketing
You may modify your browser settings to accept or decline cookies. You may also go to www.allaboutcookies.org or to www.aboutads.info/choices for instructions on how to disable cookies. If you choose to configure your computer so that it disables cookies or does not accept them, you may not be able to make full use of our websites. Here are the links to opt-out of cookies (current as at the date of this Privacy Notice and may change from time to time):
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies
Google - https://adssettings.google.com/authenticatedGoogle Analytics - https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/181881?hl=en

Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to enable you to easily visit other websites of interest. Clicking these links may mean that you give information to us or to third parties through cookies or in other ways. Buffer is not responsible for content on other websites.  Please review the privacy policies and privacy practices of third-party sites before you use the sites or disclose any personal information.  We do not endorse any third-party websites, or their content, and we have no control over the conduct of the companies or organisations operating those sites.

This privacy policy was last modified on 7 June 2022.