We mainly use your personal information to provide you with an insurance policy, healthcare trust benefits and other services that you, your employer, or other family members obtain from us and to provide you with the right services based on your situation. So, for example, if you have a problem, we make sure the right network of providers and specialists are in place and we can also update you quickly on the progress and cost of your claim and keep you safe from fraud. However, there are a number of other reasons why we use your personal information; please see below for a more detailed list of how we use your personal information.
We may process your personal information for a number of different purposes, and these are set out in more detail in the below sub-sections for AXA Insurance and AXA Health where applicable. Under data protection laws we can only process your information where we have one or more legal ground or condition for doing so as set out in the law. We have set out below the main reasons why we process your personal information and the applicable circumstances when we will do so.
When the personal information we process about you is classed as sensitive personal information (criminal offences information and ‘Special Category Personal Data’ such as your health, sexual orientation and ethnic origin), we must have an additional legal condition for such processing, including the substantial public interest condition for the insurance industry or, where necessary, we will ask for your consent.
The substantial public interest condition for insurance is contained in the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and allows for processing special category personal data (including health data) and criminal conviction data which is necessary for an insurance purpose. This includes advising on, arranging, underwriting, administering, administering a claim under, exercising a right or complying with an obligation under, an insurance contract.
Processing of personal and sensitive personal information is necessary in order for us to provide your insurance policy, benefits or other services, such as assessing your application and setting you up as a policyholder, or trust beneficiary, administering and managing your insurance policy or benefits, providing all related services, providing a quote, handling and paying claims and communicating with you. In these circumstances, if you do not provide such information, we may not be able to offer you a policy, service or process a claim.
We may use Cloud (technology) storage solutions within the United Kingdom and Europe which are chosen to ensure efficiency and improved performance through up-to-date technology. In some instances, we may consider similar technology outside these areas or technical support provided may be from outside. In all cases where personal data is transferred to a country which is deemed not to have the same standards of protection for personal data as the UK, AXA will ensure appropriate safeguards such as UK regulator approved Standard Contractual Clauses and further contractual, organisational and technical measures (as may be required following an assessment of the risk) have been implemented to ensure that your personal information is protected.
Where we have a legal or regulatory obligation to use personal information, for example, when our regulators, the Prudential Regulatory Authority, (PRA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and our data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) wish us to maintain certain records of any dealings with you.
Where we need to use your personal information to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights, for example when we are faced with any legal claim or where we want to pursue any legal claims ourselves.
Where we need to use personal and sensitive information for reasons of public interest, such as investigating fraudulent policyholder applications or claims, including large scale/organised fraudulent claims, medical malpractice and anti-money laundering checks.
Where you have provided your consent to our use of your personal information. We will usually only ask for your consent in relation to processing your sensitive personal information (such as health data) or when we would like to provide marketing information to you (including information about other products and services). We do not always need your consent to process your sensitive personal information, but where we do we will make this clear when you provide your personal information. Without your consent, in some circumstances, we may not be able to provide you with cover under a policy or handle a claim, or you may not be able to benefit from some of our services.
Where we have appropriate legitimate business needs to use your personal information such as maintaining our business records, developing and improving our products and services, protecting our services and computer systems and ensuring our network and information security and business continuity, all whilst ensuring that such business need does not interfere with your rights and freedoms and does not cause you harm.
When required, we anonymise personal information so that individuals cannot be identified, before we use it for management information and analysis of our products and services. Analysis of anonymous information provides us with insights about our business, and with opportunities to improve our products and services and the health and wellbeing of the people who use them. Analysis of anonymous information also allows us to demonstrate the value of the services we provide to our clients. The way that we anonymise personal information aligns with regulatory guidance and is achieved using different techniques, for example removing identifying data or overwriting it with randomised non-identifiable data. Anonymisation still constitutes use of your personal information and so to do so lawfully, we rely on the legal ground that was used when your data was originally collected.
Where we need to use your sensitive personal information such as health data because it is necessary for your vital interests, this being a life or death matter.
Legal grounds we rely on for each use of your personal information
Why we need your personal information
Personal information we may process for the purpose adjacent may include, but shall not be limited, to the types of information set out below
Legal grounds for processing
To review your insurance application and provide you with a quote.
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under Detail Section 7 below.
Your contact details, your age and the age of other person(s) included on the policy (family members, business partners, employees).
Credit information in order to prevent fraud check your identity, assess your creditworthiness, risk selection, pricing and underwriting.
Information about your possessions such as your vehicle, your driving history; any information about your property, past claims, recent damage; information about your business premises (or vehicle).
Information from your vehicle’s on-board diagnostics device or telematics App, such as your location and location history, speed, distance driven, mileage reading, your cars vehicle identity number (VIN), any engine faults and warning lights, cornering and braking and fuel and battery level where you are a telematics insurance policy holder.
Information about the nature of your business and commercial assets.
Sensitive personal information including any penalties you may have for driving offences.
Legal grounds: such use is necessary in order to take steps to provide your insurance policy.
Legal grounds for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes.
To administer, provide and service your insurance policy, assess eligibility for and handling and paying claims.
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under Detail Section 7 below.
Your contact details, your age and the age of other person(s) included on the policy (family members, business partners, employees).
Information about your possessions such as your vehicle, your driving history, any information about your property, past claims, recent damage; information about your business premises (or vehicle).
Information from your vehicle’s on-board diagnostics device or telematics App, such as your location and location history, speed, distance driven, mileage reading, your cars vehicle identity number (VIN), any engine faults and warning lights, cornering and braking and fuel and battery level where you are a telematics insurance policy holder.
Information about the nature of your business and commercial assets.
Financial details.
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition or any penalties you may have for driving offences.
Legal grounds: such use is necessary in order to provide your insurance policy and we have a legitimate business need to use your personal information to administer your insurance policy and handle any claims.
Legal grounds for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes or you have provided your consent. Please note that, in some cases, if you do not provide your consent, we may not be able to pay claims.
To communicate with you and resolve any complaints you may have.
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under the Detail Section 7 below.
Your contact details and any information relevant to your policy.
Legal grounds: such use is necessary in order to provide your insurance policy and we have a legitimate business need to resolve any complaints.
Legal grounds for sensitive personal information: such use is necessary for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending our legal rights, where you have provided your consent, or the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes.
To evaluate your application and ability to pay for your policy by instalments.
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under the Detail Section 1 below.
Your contact details and bank account details.
Legal ground: such use is necessary in order to provide your insurance policy.
Your contact details, your age and the age of other person(s) included on the policy (family members, business partners, employees).
Credit information in order to prevent fraud, check your identity, assess your creditworthiness, risk selection, pricing and underwriting.
Information about your possessions such as your vehicle, your driving history, any information about your property, past claims, recent damage; information about your business premises (or vehicle).
Information from your vehicle’s on-board diagnostics device or telematics App, such as your location and location history, speed, distance driven, mileage reading, your cars vehicle identity number (VIN), any engine faults and warning lights, cornering and braking and fuel and battery level where you are a telematics insurance policy holder.
Information about the nature of your business and commercial assets, including any business you are associated with or a director of.
Financial details.
Information available in the public domain or on social media.
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition, including previous claims, or any penalties you may have for driving offences.
Legal grounds: such use is necessary in order to provide your insurance policy and we have a legitimate business need to prevent fraud.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: we need to use your personal information for reasons of substantial public interest to prevent and detect fraud.
For the purposes of debt recovery (e.g. where you have not paid for your insurance policy).
Information about you, your name, address, email address and contact details.
Financial details including bank account details and credit reference checks.
Legal ground: we have a legitimate business need to recover any debt.
For our own management information purposes including; managing our business operations such as maintaining accounting records, analysis of financial results, internal audit requirements, receiving professional advice (e.g. tax or legal advice).
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under Detail Section 3 below.
Your contact details, your age and the age of other person(s) included on the policy (family members, business partners, employees).
Information about your possessions such as your vehicle, your driving history, any information about your property, past claims, recent damage; information about your business premises (or vehicle).
Information from your vehicle’s on-board diagnostics device or telematics App, such as your location and location history, speed, distance driven, mileage reading, your cars vehicle identity number (VIN), any engine faults and warning lights, cornering and braking and fuel and battery level where you are a telematics insurance policy holder.
Information about the nature of your business and commercial assets.
Financial details.
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition or any penalties you may have for driving offences.
Legal grounds: we have a legitimate business need to use your personal information to understand our business and monitor performance and maintain appropriate records.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes.
For customer feedback/surveys, research and analytical purposes and to improve our products and services, data quality and operational processes.
Your contact details, your age and the age of other person(s) included on the policy (family members, business partners, employees).
Information about your possessions such as your vehicle, your driving history, any information about your property, past claims, recent damage; information about your business premises (or vehicle).
Information from your vehicle’s on-board diagnostics device or telematics App, such as your location and location history, speed, distance driven, mileage reading, your cars vehicle identity number (VIN), any engine faults and warning lights, cornering and braking and fuel and battery level where you are a telematics insurance policy holder.
Information about the nature of your business and commercial assets.
Financial details.
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition or any penalties you may have for driving offences and injuries sustained in accidents.
Legal ground: we have a legitimate business need to use your personal information for services improvement.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes, or in certain circumstances, the processing is necessary for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes.
Complying with our legal or regulatory obligations.
Details about you, other related parties, your product or service, depending on the nature of the obligation.
Legal ground: such use is necessary for us to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations.
Providing improved quality, training and security (for example, with respect to recorded or monitored phone calls to our contact numbers).
Technology may include voice analytics.
Details about you and other related parties, your product or service having been discussed with you or your representative during a telephone conversation with us.
Several legal grounds may apply: such as where we need to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations; where necessary in order to perform our agreement with you.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes.
Providing information to you about our products and services as a personal customer or potential personal customer in accordance with preferences you have expressed.
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under the Detail Section 7 below.
Your name, contact details, marketing preference.
Legal ground: you have provided your consent.
Providing information to you about our products and services as a business customer or potential business customer (including information about other products).
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under Detail Section 7 below.
Your name, your business contact details.
Legal ground: legitimate business interests in the commercial sector.
To maintain, improve and protect our services and computer systems and ensure our network and information security and business continuity.
For example, we may use your information to help us develop and test our systems, including new technologies and services. This is to make sure they’re safe and secure and will work the way we want them to.
It may be necessary to use any of the personal information that is described in the other purposes set out in this table.
When we do this, we’ll use processes and technologies that are designed to keep your data secure.
Legal grounds: necessary for our legitimate interests in improving how we offer our services and the security of the computer systems we use.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes.
Why we need your personal information
Personal information we may process for the purpose adjacent may include, but shall not be limited, to the types of information set out below
Legal grounds for processing
To review insurance applications and provide quotes.
Your contact and identifying details.
Employment details.
Your location.
If you consider taking our travel insurance; information about your travel plans, destinations, planned activities, dates of travel.
Your age and information about your lifestyle (e.g. whether you smoke).
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition.
Legal ground: such use is necessary in order to take steps to provide your insurance benefits.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes or you or someone on your behalf have confirmed your consent. Please note that, in some cases, if you do not provide your consent, we may not be able to provide your insurance benefits.
To administer, provide and service your insurance or healthcare trust benefits, assess eligibility for and handling and paying claims.
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under Detail Section 5 below.
Your contact details and identifying details.
Information about your location and your healthcare provider(s).
Other information relevant to your benefits such as, for travel insurance your travel plans, including details of travel and activities undertaken.
Your financial details such as bank account details.
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition or sexual life or sexual orientation.
Legal grounds: such use is necessary in order to perform our agreement with you or to which you are a party. We also have a legitimate business need to use your personal information to administer your benefits and handle any claims.
Legal grounds for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes or you or someone on your behalf have confirmed your consent.
Please note that, in some cases if you do not provide your consent, we may not be able to administer your benefits or pay a claim. In some cases our processing may be in your vital interests, for example if you had an accident abroad and need lifesaving medical treatment.
To communicate with you and resolve any complaints you may have
Your contact details and identifying details.
Financial details and any information relevant to your policy e.g. for travel insurance the duration of your travel and activities undertaken.
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition.
Legal grounds: such use is necessary in order to perform our agreement and we have a legitimate business need to resolve any complaints.
Legal grounds for sensitive personal information: such use is necessary for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending our legal rights, you have provided your consent or the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes.
If you are a sole trader or in a non-limited liability partnership and you are taking a business related product. To evaluate your application and your ability to pay your policy by instalments.
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under Detail Section 1 below.
Your contact details and identifying details as well as your bank account details.
Legal ground: such use is necessary to take steps in order to provide your insurance policy.
To prevent, detect and investigate fraud.
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under Detail Section 6 below.
Technology may include voice analytics.
Your contact and identifying details.
Employment details.
Financial details.
Information relevant to your policy such as:
Information about your travel plans, destination, planned activities, dates of travel; or
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health, a condition, sexual life or orientation (in so far as they may relate to services).
Legal grounds: such use is necessary in order to perform our agreement and we have a legitimate business need to prevent fraud.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: we need to use your personal information for reasons of substantial public interest to prevent and detect fraud.
To review or assist others such as the Care Quality Commission assess the performance of healthcare providers to identify concerns regarding the care being provided to our customers and the public.
Contact and identifying information.
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition.
Legal ground: it is in the public interest to identify, or help others identify deficiencies in the standards of care being provided.
Legal grounds for sensitive personal information: such use is necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health.
To safeguard you (and hence others) against harm from potentially unnecessary or inappropriate treatment by a healthcare provider.
Contact and identifying information.
Information relating to your claim including;
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition.
Legal ground: Public interest because possible inappropriate behaviour in your case warrants further review of other cases for wider issues.
Legal grounds for sensitive personal information: necessary to safeguard you or necessary for identifying malpractice.
For the purposes of debt recovery (e.g. where you have not paid for your insurance policy).
Contact and identifying information.
Financial details including bank account details and credit reference checks.
Possibly, depending on the nature of the debt, sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition.
Legal ground: we have a legitimate business need to recover any debt.
Legal grounds for sensitive personal information: such use is necessary for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending our legal rights.
For our own management information purposes including; managing our business operations such as maintaining accounting records, analysis of financial results, internal audit requirements, receiving professional advice (e.g. tax or legal advice).
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under Detail Section 3 below.
Contact and identifying details.
Financial details.
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition.
Employment details.
Legal ground: we have a legitimate business need to use your personal information to understand our business and monitor performance and maintain appropriate records.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes or you have provided your consent.
For customer feedback/surveys, research and analytical purposes and to improve our products and services, data quality and operational processes.
More information on how we use your information to do this is available under Detail Section 4 below.
Technology may include voice analytics.
Contact and identifying details.
Financial details.
Sensitive personal information about your physical or mental health or condition.
Employment details.
Legal ground: we have a legitimate business need to use your personal information for services improvement.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes, or in certain circumstances, the processing is necessary for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes.
Complying with our legal or regulatory obligations for example identification and reporting of money laundering; international sanction checks.
Contact and identifying information.
Financial details.
Information relevant to your claim.
Sensitive personal information about your current or former physical or mental health or condition.
Legal ground: such use is necessary for us to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations.
Providing improved quality, training and security (for example, with respect to recorded or monitored phone calls to our contact numbers).
Technology may include voice analytics.
Contact and identifying details.
Information relevant to a claim.
Financial details.
Any information you might otherwise give us during your interactions with us.
Several legal grounds may apply: such as where we need to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations; where necessary in order to perform our agreement with you.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes or you have provided your consent.
Providing information to you about our products and services as a personal customer or potential personal customer.
Contact and identifying information.
Lifestyle and information about social circumstances.
Information about the goods and services you currently have with AXA.
Marketing preferences.
Legal ground: depending on the circumstances this could be legitimate business interests or we have your consent.
Providing information to you, about our products and services as a business customer or potential business customer (including information about other products).
Your business contact information and publicly available information about your business.
Legal ground: legitimate business interests in the commercial sector, or we have your consent.
To maintain, improve and protect our services and computer systems and ensure our network and information security and business continuity.
For example, we may use your information to help us develop and test our systems, including new technologies and services. This is to make sure they’re safe and secure and will work the way we want them to.
It may be necessary to use any of the personal information that is described in the other purposes set out in this table.
When we do this, we’ll use processes and technologies that are designed to keep your data secure.
Legal grounds: necessary for our legitimate interests in improving how we offer our services and the security of the computer systems we use.
Legal ground for sensitive personal information: the processing is necessary in the substantial public interest for insurance purposes or you have provided your consent.
Detail section
AXA Insurance is required by regulation to undertake a reasonable assessment of the creditworthiness of a customer before offering the option to pay by instalments. Searches and other information which is provided to us and/or the Credit Reference Agencies about you and those with whom you are linked financially, may be used by us if you, or other members of your household, apply for other facilities including insurance applications/quotations (including those you obtain through price comparison websites). When you request a quote, a ‘soft search’ will be carried out and will show under the name of the supplier we use to facilitate this search (for example, when AXA Insurance carry out a soft search, we use Lexis Nexis so the search will show under their name). If you then proceed to purchase a policy with AXA and wish to pay monthly, a ‘hard search’ will be carried out and will show under the name of the AXA entity conducting the search (for example, AXA Insurance). For more information on the Credit Reference Agencies, see Section 5 - Who Do We Share Your Information With?.
Where you have a policy with us, we may undertake further assessments where a policy amendment takes place or in preparation for the renewal invitation or when a claim is submitted. This personal information may also be used for debt tracing and the prevention of money laundering as well as the management of your account.
Please note, AXA Health only undertakes this activity in respect of commercial clients, including sole traders.
When you take out a car insurance policy, AXA Insurance will add your policy details to the Motor Insurance Database (‘MID’), run by the Motor Insurers' Information Centre (‘MIIC’). MID data may be used by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (‘DVLA’) and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland for the purpose of electronic vehicle licensing and by the police for the purposes of establishing whether a driver's use of a vehicle is likely to be covered by a motor insurance policy and for preventing and detecting crime. If you are involved in an accident, whether in the UK or abroad, other UK insurers, the Motor Insurers' Bureau and MIIC may search the MID to obtain relevant policy information. For more information on the Credit Reference Agencies, see Section 5 - Who Do We Share Your Information With?.
AXA Insurance is required by regulation to undertake a reasonable assessment of the creditworthiness of a customer before offering the option to pay by instalments. Searches and other information which is provided to us and/or the Credit Reference Agencies about you and those with whom you are linked financially, may be used by us if you, or other members of your household, apply for other facilities including insurance applications/quotations (including those you obtain through price comparison websites). For more information on the Credit Reference Agencies, see Section 5 - Who Do We Share Your Information With?.
Persons pursuing a claim in respect of a road traffic accident (including citizens of other EU countries) may be entitled to access relevant information held about you on the MID. You can find out more about this from us, or from the Motor Insurance Bureau website.
To help keep premiums low we do participate in a number of industry initiatives to prevent and detect fraud.
To help prevent and detect fraud and other related crimes and to validate information provided to AXA we may at any time:
approach the DVLA to check all or any relevant driving licence details of anyone named on the policy;
share information about you with other organisations and public bodies including the police;
share information about you and any other named persons on the policy within the AXA Group and with other insurers;
where fraud is suspected, obtain information from Credit Reference Agencies to assist us with our fraud prevention investigations;
pass the details you have supplied to recognised centralised insurance industry applications, policy and claims checking systems (for example, the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register, Claims and Underwriting Exchange (CUE), No Claims Discount (NCD) database and all DVLA databases) where those details will be checked and updated;
load your details and any information or documents you provide us to the Insurance Fraud Register (please note that this may affect future applications for insurance products: for further information please visit the Insurance Fraud Register website) and verify with fraud prevention agencies and databases including publicly available data (for example on County Court Judgements, bankruptcy information and electoral roll data) any details you have provided us with.
If false or inaccurate information is provided and if fraud is suspected, details will be passed to fraud prevention agencies to prevent fraud and money laundering and we will periodically search records held by fraud prevention and Credit Reference Agencies to:
help make decisions about credit services for you and your financial associates;
help make decisions on insurance policies and claims for you and your financial associates;
trace people who owe money, recover debt, prevent fraud and to manage your insurance policies;
check your identity to prevent money laundering;
carry out credit searches, electoral roll searches and further fraud searches.
For more information about the agencies with which we share your data, including further details explaining how the information held by fraud prevention agencies may be used, or to obtain details about how Credit Reference Agencies collect and process information (including how to access the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice or 'CRAIN'), please email us at fraud@axa.co.uk.
We use your personal information to help us understand our business and monitor our performance, for example, to help determine how much insurance premiums should be. We also look to see where there might be trends in geographical or postcode areas to ensure we are prepared in the event of adverse weather conditions, or to identify where there is a higher or lower tendency to claim than average, or higher or lower healthcare charges and claims costs to ensure we offer the appropriate price or even a different type of service.
If you are a member of a group health insurance or healthcare trust scheme, we may use your personal information to create reports for your employer, their insurance broker or employee benefits consultants, or a parent company on the performance of the scheme and on the health of the workforce. The information we provide usually would not allow your employer to identify any individual employee. We may provide a piece of information that compares total claims paid out on the scheme with the premium paid. This helps companies get the best value quotes from other insurers at renewal. For small groups this may cause an employer to infer that a claims cost was due to a particular person.
AXA may also use services which collate views about AXA shared within social media platforms to obtain a better understanding of opinions about our products and services shared publicly
We may use your personal information for research and analysis including general research into health-related areas and research about the products and services we provide. Where possible, we will take steps to anonymise (see above), pseudonymise or put appropriate controls and governance in place to protect personal sensitive information.
By analysing customer information and feedback/surveys we can tailor and improve our products and services to better suit the needs of our customers. We bring together information about the products you hold across the AXA UK Group of companies to help us improve our product offerings as well as our internal operational processes, which can in turn drive customer service improvements. The majority of work we do is the same as we have done in the past, but we can now work with new and better technology for efficiency and speed.
On occasion we may work with research institutions and specialist providers in order to accelerate our research and development of products and services and contribute to developing areas of public interest. When we do this we consider each use on a case by case basis and ensure we have undertaken a full data protection risk assessment.
We use your personal information for the ongoing management of any claims you have and paying your medical bills. We will sometimes need to clarify information with your healthcare provider or hospital, such as what treatment you have received if a bill is unclear.
Sometimes it will be necessary for our clinical teams to discuss your treatment with your healthcare provider, without first getting your consent. Typically, this will happen if you have been unexpectedly admitted to hospital and we are unable to contact you, or you are not able to give your consent. In such cases we will always act in your interests to establish whether your treatment is eligible for cover. Very occasionally we may need to do this when we are not satisfied that your healthcare provider is acting in your best interests and may do you unnecessary harm, for example, by expressing an intention to undertake a medical procedure that appears to be unnecessary.
To help keep costs and premium levels down we have processes in place to identify and investigate possible fraud both by customers and by healthcare providers. In some investigations we may interact and share information with hospital fraud departments, healthcare providers, law enforcement agencies and other insurance companies. We participate in the activities of the Health Insurance Counter Fraud Group and the Insurance Fraud Bureau. We may use information provided by these organisations as well as publicly available information on social media and other sources (including third parties who assist with identity verification and work with Credit Reference Agencies) to help us combat fraud. We may report suspicions of medical malpractice to the relevant regulatory body such as the General Medical Council, or a supervising clinician / Responsible Officer.
We also monitor the services you are being provided by healthcare providers for these purposes and to ensure accurate billing. In some cases, we are required by law to report crime and suspected crime and other matters to law enforcement and government agencies.
For more information about the Credit Reference Agencies with which we share your data and how they collect and process information (including how to access the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice or 'CRAIN'), please email us at fraud@axa.co.uk.
Artificial Intelligence is an umbrella term for a range of technologies that replace manual processes and solve complex tasks by carrying out functions that previously required human action. Tasks that we have traditionally done by thinking and reasoning are increasingly being done by, or with the help of, AI.
We use AI to support our existing activities. This means that how we collect your personal information and the types of personal information we use do not change. To use AI, we combine information you have provided to us directly, information we derive about you from your use of our services or your interactions with us, and information from other people and organisations. We use AI for different purposes which we explain in more detail below.
To communicate with you:
We provide virtual assistants and chat bots so you have a choice of methods to communicate with us, especially out of office hours. The virtual assistants and chat bots may use elements of AI, for example by understanding your questions and guiding you to or presenting you with appropriate help content and information or transferring you to an adviser.
Pricing and underwriting
We use the information you give us when you request a quote and / or purchase a policy, information from our suppliers and data providers (such as information about your credit history, claims history, vehicle and / or property, more general information about demographics, flood risk and local crime rates / activity in your area) and information we receive from your vehicle’s on-board diagnostics device or telematics App, such as your location and location history, speed, distance driven, mileage reading, your cars vehicle identity number (VIN), any engine faults and warning lights, cornering and braking and fuel and battery level (where you are a telematics insurance policy holder) to determine the risk involved with offering an insurance policy and the appropriate price to charge. We use AI to help with these processes – for instance, AI helps us to estimate how much a claim could be, the likelihood of a claim being made, and it also forms part of our fraud detection and prevention procedures.
Claims handling
We use AI to expedite and improve our claim handling service. This entails using information you give to us when you submit a claim, information we already hold about you, such as information we’ve received from your vehicle’s on-board diagnostics device or telematics App, and information from our partners, brokers, suppliers and data providers (such as cost of parts / materials, vehicle values, house values, weather conditions on the date of your claim, transport links and suppliers providing the required service in your area).
For example, AI helps us to determine the most appropriate route for your claim (i.e. to repair or write-off your vehicle), and the best supplier to assist you with your claim (i.e. the most suitable garage to repair your vehicle, or builder to repair your home). It can also help us to estimate the total cost of a claim and determine the most appropriate way to settle your claim.
We also use AI for wider processes that support claims management, such as indexing the documents that support your claim to your customer record, early identification of complaints, and as part of our fraud detection procedures.
Customer value, retention and satisfaction
We use AI to understand and segment our customer base so that we can continually improve our products, service and communications. For instance, AI help us to predict whether customers will renew their insurance policies with us, to offer them renewal journeys most suited to their preferences (online or by phone), and to personalise renewal invites. We also use AI to identify vulnerable customers so that we can better support their needs.
The information that we use to do this is collected directly from customers during the course of their relationship with us, derived from our customers’ interactions (such as duration of customer relationship, whether customers interact online or on the phone, and number of AXA products), and received from data providers (such as information about our customers’ local area and postcode information).
We use AI to analyse information from customer surveys, feedback forms, calls and complaints to understand how satisfied our customers are with our products, service and communications. For instance, we use AI to classify whether a comment or review is positive or negative and what the comment or review is focussed on (e.g. customer service, price, claims etc). This helps us to optimise customer journeys and improve products and services.
Marketing
We use AI to understand and segment our customer base so we can continually improve our products, service and communications. For instance, AI helps us to recommend the right product or content to the right customer, understand how different channels are performing and which customers are using them, and identify next best actions, such as sending a motor customer a marketing email for house insurance because their renewal date is coming up and we could offer a competitive price (where you have opted in to receive marketing).
The information that we use to do this is collected directly from customers during the course of their relationship with us, received from data providers (such as information about your local area and postcode information) and derived from our customers’ information (such as duration of customer relationship, whether customers interact online or on the phone, and number of AXA products).