Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference between South Africa (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK) in terms of data protection compliance with the aim to establish if a country that has had data protection in place for a longer period of time has a higher level of compliance with data protection requirements in comparison with a country that is preparing for compliance. Design/methodology/approach An insurance industry multi-case study within the online insurance services environment was conducted. Personal information of four newly created consumer profiles was deposited to 10 random insurance organisation websites in each country to evaluate a number of data privacy requirements of the Data Protection Act and Protection of Personal Information Act. Findings The results demonstrate that not all the insurance organisations honored the selected opt-out preference for receiving direct marketing material. This was evident in direct marketing material that was sent from the insurance organisations in the sample to both the SA and UK consumer profiles who opted out for it. A total of 42 unsolicited third-party contacts were received by the SA consumer profiles, whereas the UK consumer profiles did not receive any third-party direct marketing. It was also found that the minimality principle is not always met by both SA and UK organisations. Research limitations/implications As a jurisdiction with a heavy stance towards privacy implementation and regulation, it was found that the UK is more compliant than SA in terms of implementation of the evaluated data protection requirements included in the scope of this study, however not fully compliant. Originality/value Based upon the results obtained from this research, it suggests that the SA insurance organisations should ensure that the non-compliance aspects relating to direct marketing and sharing data with third parties are addressed. SA insurance companies should learn from the manner in which the UK insurance organisations implement these privacy requirements. Furthermore, the UK insurance organisations should focus on improved compliance for direct marking and the minimality principle. The study indicates the positive role that data protection legislation plays in a county like the UK, with a more mature stance toward compliance with data protection legislation.

South Africa enacted the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPI) in an effort to curb the misuse of customers’ personal information by organisations. The aim of this research was to establish whether the South African insurance industry is adhering to certain prescripts of POPI, focusing on direct marketing requirements. An experiment was utilised to monitor the flow of personal information submitted to 20 insurance companies requesting short-term insurance quotations, using new e-mail addresses and phone numbers. The results of the experiment indicate that 92% of the marketing communication received did not have prior consent from the researcher. Contact was made by companies outside the sample, indicating third-party sharing. 86% of the unsolicited short message service (SMS) communication received required customers to pay for unsubscribing from SMSs, which is not in line with regulatory requirements. The non-compliance evident in this experiment acts as an early warning to the insurance industry and South Africa, prompting a more concerted effort towards preparation of compliance with POPI. A personal information processing management framework is proposed to aid the insurance industry in understanding how personal information can be processed in line with the requirements of the Act.

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