Singapore PDPC fines 3 insurers

Singapore’s privacy regulator has fined three insurance companies inadvertently disclosing policyholders’ insurance documents to the wrong people.

Aviva, NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative and AIG Asia Pacific Insurance have been fined USD30,000, USD10,000 and USD9,000 respectively by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC). All three cases involved lapses in printing and posting documents containing personal data.

Aviva faced the heaviest penalty as it was fined for similar lapses in October 2017. The incident prompted the PDPC to release an advisory recently that listed the safeguards companies must employ when handling documents containing personal data. The safeguards include performing test runs when printing as well as mandating a second layer of random checks by a supervisor when putting letters in envelopes.