The broker
Advises and arranges the contract. Does not carry the risk.
Home / Risk carrier
Who actually carries your risk?
The name on your policy is often a broker, an underwriting agency or a brand. The risk itself sits with an insurance company behind it, and few owners ever look it up.
That does not matter until the insurer fails. The collapse of the Berlin based ELEMENT Insurance AG showed what happens then: around 320,000 contracts ended, and more than 25,000 filed claims are still unpaid. ELEMENT and NAMMERT, background (in German)
Three roles worth telling apart
The underwriting agency
Writes contracts and handles claims on behalf of an insurer, without carrying the risk on its own balance sheet.
The insurer
Pays claims from its capital and its reinsurance. It is the risk carrier, and the one that counts when things go wrong.
Six questions to ask
1
Who is the risk carrier?
The name is in the policy schedule and the pre contract information. If you only find a brand or a broker, ask.
2
Where is it based, and who supervises it?
An insurer is supervised in its home country. For a German insurer that is BaFin, wherever the boat is kept.
3
How big is it?
Look at own funds in euros, not only at percentages. A major event is paid in euros.
4
Does it write only one line of business?
An insurer with many lines can absorb a bad year in one of them. A single line insurer cannot.
5
How is it reinsured?
Reinsurers absorb large losses. At ELEMENT, the loss of its reinsurance was what triggered the insolvency.
6
What does its solvency ratio tell you, and what not?
It shows capital relative to the regulatory requirement. It does not show how large the buffer is in euros.
Why the ratio alone is not enough
The solvency ratio measures the buffer relative to the insurer's own business. Two insurers can both stand at around 200 percent, one with EUR 20 million of own funds, the other with EUR 2 billion.
In a normal year both are sound. When a severe storm hits many boats in a few harbours at once, the smaller insurer may need a full year of buffer. For the larger one it is a small part of a widely spread book.
When several insurers share the risk
Many yacht policies are not carried by one insurer but by a consortium. The schedule might show a lead insurer with 35 percent and three others sharing the rest. As a rule, each one is liable only for its own share, not for the shares of the others.
If one of them fails, its share ends one month after insolvency proceedings open. The others keep paying, but only their part. On a claim of EUR 100,000 and a share of 35 percent, EUR 35,000 becomes a creditor claim in the proceedings. If the failed company is the lead insurer, the consortium also loses the one that administers the contract and steers the claims.
That is why the lead insurer deserves a closer look: how big is it, and how much of its share does it pass on to reinsurers? A small insurer that keeps more of the risk itself year after year can look perfectly sound in a normal year. When a severe storm hits many boats at once, though, it carries more of the loss out of a smaller buffer. How much it reinsures is in its Solvency and Financial Condition Report. Who its reinsurers are is usually not.
The insurers on your contract and their shares belong in the policy schedule. If they are missing, ask. A serious provider can tell you who carries your risk.
How to check any insurer yourself
Policy schedule
Names the company that carries your risk.
Solvency and Financial Condition Report (SFCR)
Almost every insurer in the EU has to publish one each year, usually on its website. It lists premiums, own funds, the solvency ratio and reinsurance.
BaFin company database
For insurers based in Germany: shows the licence and the lines of business.
Who carries the risk at NAMMERT
The risk carrier behind NAMMERT is Württembergische Versicherung AG, part of the W&W Group in Germany and supervised by BaFin. We underwrite and handle claims ourselves, the risk sits with Württembergische. Figures from its own report:
| Gross written premiums 2025 | EUR 2.92 billion |
|---|---|
| Eligible own funds | EUR 2.37 billion |
| Solvency ratio | 213 % (prior year 183 %) |
| Business | Many lines, from motor and buildings to liability. Boats are a small part. |
Source: Solvency and Financial Condition Report as at 31 December 2025 (in German). Read the report
That is not a guarantee, and we do not present it as one. A large insurer can also decide to scale back a line of business. But a storm that hits many boats is spread across around EUR 2.9 billion of premium.
Not sure who carries your risk?
Send us your policy, even if it is not one of ours. We will tell you which company stands behind it.