The blunder – which has only recently come to light - occurred in August 2008 during a routine transfer from a Zurich office to a South African storage centre. To date, the tape’s whereabouts remains unknown.
In addition to information on British clients the tape also contained policy details of 550,000 customers in South Africa and 40,000 in Botswana.
Zurich has since apologised for the error and has written to all individuals affected by the loss to offer advice on what precautionary measures they can take in the event that their details fall into the wrong hands. They will also pay for any ID protection affected customers may need to take out. They have emphasised however, that as yet, there is no evidence to suggest the information is being used for ID fraud or exploited by any other means.
Zurich has since called in consultants at KPMG to investigate how the mishap occurred and review its data protection policies so as to avoid such occurrences in the future. It is also keeping the Financial Services Authority (FSA) fully appraised.
The data loss affects customers with Zurich General Insurance only, not life insurance and a dedicated phone line has been set up to deal with enquiries. Customers in the UK can call 0800 015 2183 and those out with the UK can call +44 1709 764 401. Information is also available at http://www.zurich.co.uk/home/aboutus/id.htm
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