This notice explains what Demerara Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited (Demerara Mutual, we, us) does with the personal data this website collects, and how to exercise your rights over it. It is written for visitors to demeraramutual.com. If you hold a policy or mortgage with us, the section "If you hold a policy with us" describes in outline how that data is handled, and your proposal form and policy documents give the detail for your product.
We are the data controller for the personal data described here. Our head office is at 61 & 62 Avenue of the Republic & Robb Street, Georgetown, Guyana. Questions and requests about personal data go to our Data Protection Lead at [email protected] or by post to that address, marked Data Protection Lead.
What this website collects
Forms you send us
The contact page has forms for general enquiries, callback requests, quotes, complaints, customer feedback, mortgage enquiries and job applications. Each form asks only for what that request needs: your name, how to reach you, and what you want to tell us. Some forms have optional fields, for example a policy number, your age for a quote, or the area of a property for a mortgage enquiry. Job applications ask where you are based and for a short account of your experience; we do not accept attachments through the website.
When you send a form we store it in our website's content system, give it a reference number, and email it to the office that handles that kind of request in the territory you chose. The email goes through our own mail server. Staff in that office use it to answer you, and only for that.
Technical data
Our web server keeps standard access logs: the address your device connects from, the pages requested, the time and the browser used. We use them to keep the site secure and working, and we delete them after 30 days. We do not use them to build a profile of you.
To limit repeat submissions from one source, the form system keeps a scrambled version of your connection address for 15 minutes. It cannot be turned back into your address. Cloudflare, which protects the site from attack, may also run an anti-spam check inside the form; see the cookie notice.
Your territory choice
When you choose Guyana, Grenada, Saint Lucia or Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a cookie on your device remembers the choice for a year so you see the right prices, offices and forms. The country suggested to you on first visit comes from the region of your connection. If you dismiss the suggestion or choose a territory other than the one suggested, a second cookie remembers the suggested country for a year so it is not offered again.
Cookies and analytics
The site sets three cookies of its own: one for your territory choice, one for the territory suggestion, and one for your answer to the cookie banner. Google Analytics runs only if you choose "Allow analytics" on the banner, and Google Maps loads on office pages only with that choice or when you press "Show map". The cookie notice lists every cookie with its purpose and lifetime, and lets you change your choice at any time.
Staff accounts
Staff who edit the website sign in at /admin with a work email address. Their login cookie and their edits are recorded so we know who changed what. Nothing about staff accounts applies to visitors.
Why we use it
- To answer the request you sent us and to take the steps you asked for, such as calling you back or preparing a quote. This is done because you asked us to.
- To keep the website secure and to stop automated abuse of the forms. This is in our legitimate interest in running a safe service.
- To understand which pages and documents are used, so we can improve the site. This happens only with your consent, given on the cookie banner.
- To meet our legal duties, for example if a regulator or a court requires us to produce a record.
Nothing on this website makes an automated decision about you. A person reads every form.
Who sees it
Your form goes to the staff who handle that kind of request in the office you chose. A complaint goes to the office named on the complaints form. We do not sell personal data and we do not share it for other companies' marketing.
These providers process data on our behalf to run the website:
- Our web hosting provider, which stores the website and the forms you send.
- Cloudflare, which sits in front of the website to protect it and runs the anti-spam check on forms.
- Google, which provides analytics and maps only after you allow them on the cookie banner.
Each provider acts under a contract that limits what it may do with the data. Some of them process data outside the country you are in, including in the United States and the European Union. Where that happens we rely on the provider's contractual commitments to protect the data to a standard equivalent to the one that applies here.
How long we keep it
- Form submissions: for as long as we need to deal with your request and to show what we did about it, and no longer than 12 months after it is closed, unless it leads to a policy, a mortgage or a complaint file, in which case it is kept with that file.
- Server logs: 30 days.
- The scrambled connection address used to limit repeat submissions: 15 minutes.
- Cookies: the lifetimes given in the cookie notice.
If you hold a policy with us
When you apply for or hold a policy, mortgage or pension with us, we collect what that product needs to assess the risk, issue the contract, collect premiums, pay claims and meet our legal duties. For life and health cover that includes health information. We share necessary information with our reinsurers, with the professionals who help us assess a claim, and with regulators and law enforcement where the law requires it. We keep policy records for the life of the contract and for the period afterwards that financial and anti-money-laundering rules require. Your proposal form and policy documents explain this for your product, and you can ask the Data Protection Lead for a fuller statement.
Your rights
Under the Data Protection Act 2023 of Guyana, and the corresponding law in Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, you can ask us to:
- tell you whether we hold personal data about you and give you a copy of it
- correct data that is wrong or incomplete
- delete data we no longer have a reason to keep
- stop using data where we relied on our own interests rather than a legal duty or your request
- withdraw consent you gave, for example for analytics, without affecting what was done before
We may need to confirm who you are before acting on a request. Some records must be kept by law even if you ask us to delete them; we will tell you when that applies.
How to make a request or complain
Write to the Data Protection Lead at [email protected], or by post to 61 & 62 Avenue of the Republic & Robb Street, Georgetown, Guyana. Say what you are asking for and how to reach you. We will acknowledge your request, tell you when to expect an answer, and reply within the time the Act allows.
If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Data Protection Commissioner of Guyana, or to the supervisory authority for data protection in the territory you deal with.
Children
This website is not aimed at children, and our forms are meant for people aged 18 or over. A parent or guardian can contact us on a child's behalf.
Changes
We will update this notice when the website or the law changes. The date at the top shows the current version. Earlier versions are available from the Data Protection Lead on request.