Data Privacy Is the New Trust Test
Data Privacy Is the New Trust Test
A Timely Reflection on Responsibility
Last week’s International Data Privacy Day prompted an important reflection. Data now shapes nearly every aspect of our lives. With that influence comes responsibility.
From financial planning to insurance cover, data sits at the centre of trust between institutions and the people they serve. Whether families plan for education, asset ownership, legacy building, or retirement income, they rely on institutions to handle their information with care.
The Unique Responsibility of Life Insurers
Few sectors carry this responsibility more directly than life insurance. Insurers safeguard deeply personal information. This includes medical histories, family details, financial circumstances, and long-term plans.
When a customer shares this information, they extend trust. Protecting that trust is not just a regulatory obligation. It is a leadership imperative.
Trust Must Be Designed, Not Repaired
Trust enables innovation. It improves customer experience, strengthens commercial decisions, and supports relevant product design. Ultimately, it drives sustainable growth.
However, organisations cannot rebuild trust easily after a breach. Leaders must design privacy into systems, processes, and culture from the start.
Once trust erodes, rebuilding it demands time, resources, and credibility. In life insurance, the consequences extend beyond financial loss. They affect long-term reputation.
Consistency Across Complex Ecosystems
Today’s business models rely on interconnected ecosystems. Life insurers work with technology partners, digital platforms, fintechs, and traditional distribution channels.
Regardless of the delivery channel, every partner must uphold the same privacy standards. Organisations must embed data protection into product design, automation, and system integration. This applies both internally and across external partnerships.
Data Privacy Is the New Trust Test
Collecting Data With Purpose
Discipline begins with a simple question: Why are we collecting this data?
Organisations often gather more information than they use. Excess data creates exposure and increases risk. Therefore, leaders must define clear purposes before collecting personal information.
Sensitive details, such as salary data and medical history, require strong safeguards. Companies must enforce user access controls and multi-factor authentication. These measures reduce vulnerability and strengthen accountability.
The data controller retains responsibility at all times. Rights such as erasure and the right to be forgotten remain non-transferable.
Even in outsourced models, organisations must maintain clear and enforceable accountability structures. Leaders cannot delegate trust.
Data Quality in the Age of AI
Artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries. Although AI has existed as a formal field since 1956, today’s scale of data and processing power has accelerated its impact.
AI systems produce meaningful outcomes only when organisations feed them accurate and responsibly governed data. In life insurance, data quality directly influences fairness, risk assessment, and long-term customer confidence.
Trust as a Strategic Asset
Data privacy no longer sits in the back office. It signals institutional integrity and leadership maturity.
For industries built on long-term promises, protecting data means protecting trust. In a data-driven economy, trust may prove to be the most valuable asset of all.
By Anna Manyara
Chief Operating Officer, Jubilee Life Insurance
