Element insolvency: Insured persons continue to wait – no more money in 2026

After Element bankruptcy

Insurance customers still have to wait for their money

Hundreds of thousands of customers are affected by the bankruptcy of the Berlin insurer. They can no longer expect outstanding claims to be paid this year.

Last year, the Berlin insurer Element reported insolvency Insolvency proceedings were finally opened in March. But thousands of insured people who reported damage to Element still have to wait for their money.

“The existing claims cannot currently be paid out,” said insolvency administrator Friedemann Schade in a report. This also applies to undisputed claims. The reason is that Schade first has to check all registered claims. Only then can it be determined how much money individual customers can expect.

Schade emphasized that we are working on completing the claims assessments as quickly as possible. To speed up the process, Schade commissioned an external claims service provider to process the claims. “However, there will probably be no more payments in the current year,” says Schade.

The Berlin insurer operated primarily as a so-called white label provider, meaning it mostly operated in the background in collaboration with other intermediaries and insurers. Many of the approximately 320,000 insured people may not have known for a long time that there was an element behind their policies. The company got into trouble after… Hannover Re an important reinsurance partner had dropped out.

As a consequence of the Element bankruptcy, they are planning Federal Government the establishment of a special security fund. While there are already corresponding funds for life insurance (Protektor) and health insurance (Medicator), there was no corresponding safety net for property insurers – i.e. providers of household contents, building, motor vehicle, legal protection or liability policies.

Consumer advocates such as the board spokesman for the Association of Insured Persons, Stephen Rehmke, described the establishment of a security fund as “great progress”. Meanwhile, there is criticism from the insurance industry, which fears, among other things, higher premiums for its customers.