The insurance industry is the fourth most trusted in Australia, according to Deloitte’s annual Privacy Index.

The assessment of 116 brands – including nine leading insurance companies – revealed that 94% of consumers now rank trust above convenience.

But while the insurance industry performed well, up two positions from last year, it remains some distance behind banking and finance in the top spot.

“It was not a bad result for insurers,” National Lead Partner Cyber Risk Services Tommy Viljoen told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“Overall it was good to see insurance in the top four, but there is a large gap between them and banking and finance.”

Mr Viljoen says the insurance industry had fewer consumers with privacy issues, but was much less successful at resolving those issues satisfactorily.

Banking and finance privacy policies were also more comprehensive, as was the privacy information contained on its websites and mobile apps.

“Banking gave more information about cookies, and insurance companies’ cookies were active for twice as long on average as those in banking and finance.

“Banking and finance was much better than insurance at providing transparency about where data is being sent.”

The Deloitte Privacy Index rankings are: banking and finance 1; government 2; energy 3; insurance 4; telecommunications 5; higher education 6; technology 7; travel and transport 8; health and fitness 9; retail 10; social media 11; media 12; real estate 13.