Ethics and transparency

Customer Defence and Whistleblowing Channel

Defence of customers

For the purpose of promoting and achieving a constant improvement in the quality of the service provided to customers, as well as to adapt to the requirements of Order ECO 734/04 on customer care departments and services and an ombudsperson for customers of financial institutions, Entities of GCO have been provided with a Customer Service Department and, in addition, they have a Customer and Stakeholder Ombudsperson to attend to Complaints and Claims raised by their Customers, Insured Persons and Stakeholders.

All Claims or Complaints must be directed to said Customer Service Department, in the manner set forth in the Customer Defence Regulations (section "More Information"), recommending beforehand their consultation, in particular Articles 2 and 3 on the respective competences of the Customer Service Department and the Customer and Stakeholder Ombudsman, as well as Chapter II- “Procedure for the processing of claims and complaints”.

The head of the Customer Service Department is Mr. Albert Viñolas Martínez, Director of Service Quality and Customer Defence at GCO. Their contact details are:

Email: Defensa.Cliente.GCO@grupocatalanaoccidente.com
Avda. Alcalde Barnils, 63
08174 - Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona)
Tel.: 900 102 978

The Customer and Stakeholder Ombudsman is Miquel Roca Junyent, a prestigious lawyer and one of the people who participated in the drafting of the Spanish Constitution of 1978.

Similarly, the contact details of the Customer Service Department are available on the individual websites of the different GCO Entities.

More information

 

Whistleblowing Channel

The purpose of the Whistleblowing Channel is to receive, hold and process communications on irregularities related to breaches of GCO Code of Ethics, its development protocols, any other regulation or internal policies of the Group and/or its individually considered Entities, as well as actions or omissions that result in a serious or very serious breach that is punishable under criminal law or the manipulation and/or falsification of financial data. In accordance with the above, communications that do not contain data on the informant's identification will be accepted for processing, and will be investigated with the utmost caution and proportionality.


Similarly, the Whistleblowing Channel regulates the internal information system and the defence of the whistleblower, and the establishment of internal information channels for the reception of the same, the processing of the investigation files of the detected situations and the granting of appropriate protection against retaliation against the whistleblower and the persons related to the same who report through these procedures.


Any individual or company, such as customers, suppliers, shareholders or other stakeholders of GCO can report fraudulent practices or breaches in matters of Human Rights and national or European laws or other "Reportable Actions" set forth in the Whistleblowing Channel on irregularities and fraud arising in a work or professional context, and related to Members of the Board, Management, and employees of GCO, regardless of their position and level, as well as to the network of agents and collaborators connected to GCO.

The contact details of the Corporate Internal Audit Department are:
email: AuditoriaInterna.Corporativa@catalanaoccidente.com
Postal address: 
Director of Corporate Internal Audit
GCO, S.A.
Avenida Alcalde Barnils, nº 63
08174-Sant Cugat del Vallés
Telephone: 935820685

Similarly, the contact details of Internal Corporate Audit Department are available on the individual websites of the different GCO Entities.

The complaint form is not subject to any pre-established form and must contain at least the following information:

  • The irregularity reported, with details of the circumstances of the same, and as far as possible, supporting documents.
  • Identification of the persons directly responsible for the irregularity, if known.

Once the report has been received, it will be managed by the Internal Corporate Audit department, in accordance with the procedures and methodology for the analysis of internal irregularities and fraud.