“Unfortunately, insurance today is still associated with complicated and old-fashioned processes and, above all, with a lot of paperwork. That shows how ripe this industry is for disruption. That is why we will be offering all of our customers in Europe the opportunity to take out all important insurance policies digitally via the N26 app ”, Valentin Stalf, Co-CEO of N26, can be quoted with these pithy words. The reason for the – by no means first – announcement of ‘disruption’ in the insurance industry is the introduction of a new smartphone insurance policy. This should only be the prelude to the future insurance offer of the digital bank. Private liability, household contents, life, travel, pet, bicycle and electronics insurance are planned, all of which can be taken out and managed via the N26 app.
N26 customers should be able to choose from the offers of various insurers. N26 does not need its own agent license for this. This is done by our cooperation partner simplesurance, who has the appropriate approval as an insurance broker. And: he also brings technical know-how to the new partnership.
The digital bank is very familiar with partnerships in the insurance industry. So they cooperated with the Frankfurt Insurtech Clark. Its CEO, Christopher Oster, still believed in September 2020 in the continuation of the cooperation that had existed since 2017. “We have had a trusting partnership with N26 in Germany since 2017 – and this will continue to exist. It is normal for successful partnerships to develop and create space for new ideas and paths. We as Clark have decided to rely even more on our own app and have therefore come to an agreement with N26 that we will change the integration and that customers will now be forwarded directly to their Clark account via N26 ”, says Oster in the Interview with the insurance industry today.
Meanwhile, N26 continued to build its bridges in the insurance landscape: It wasn’t until the beginning of the year that the cooperation with Allianz in the field of travel insurance was expanded: “Recent studies have shown that 1 out of 3 Europeans (35%) cancel a trip due to COVID-19 and do something unexpected Had to pay for changes out of pocket. For this reason, we have worked to expand the Allianz Assistance travel insurance on offer as quickly as possible. The goal is to give customers the confidence, even in times of the pandemic, that our insurance is taking into account the current special circumstances, ”said Alex Weber, Chief Growth Officer at N26.
This partnership with Allianz in the travel insurance sector will remain unaffected by the new cooperation, announced N26. Anything else would probably have caused astonishment, if not dissonance, at Allianz. After all, Allianz only pumped 15 million euros into the Insurtech Simplesurance in December 2020. And Allianz is also involved in N26 through its own venture capital fund. “N26 is clearly a pioneer in mobile banking,” said Solmaz Altin, Chief Digital Officer of the Allianz Group, explaining the entry at the time.
And the insurance offer?
After all the will to disrupt, financial injections and cooperations, a look should also be taken at the new on-demand insurance offer. That’s what the portal has ‘Iphone ticker’ done and was not very convinced: “The insurance, which only takes effect after a four-week waiting period, only provides insurance cover for devices that are less than 6 months old. In the event of a claim, only a current value is reimbursed for this, which is only 60 percent from the age of 13 months. In addition, there is a deductible of 100 euros (for iPhone-typical purchase prices between 750.01 euros – 1,000 euros). If the device is lost, the deductible is even 25 percent of the new price. ”
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