The Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC), which administers Australia’s terrorism insurance scheme, has renewed its retrocession program for 2022.
The $3.475 billion retrocession program encourages Australian and global reinsurers to provide terrorism cover for Australian-based commercial and eligible property assets, transferring risks and protecting the Australian Commonwealth Guarantee and taxpayers.
Combined with ARPC’s net assets and the $10 billion Commonwealth Guarantee, the program provides a scheme capacity of approximately $14 billion in the event of a declared terrorist incident against these Australian-based property assets.
“ARPC renewed its $3.475 billion retrocession with a $225 million excess, for the same price as 2021, which is an impressive result,” said ARPC CEO Dr. Christopher Wallace. “This year, ARPC worked with our reinsurance advisor Aon to simplify the program by converting it to a full multi-year arrangement and renewing at expiring terms.”
Dr. Wallace and ARPC chief underwriting officer Michael Pennell met with more than 50 reinsurers online in key global markets to negotiate this year’s retrocession program.
Aside from the extension of the retrocession program, ARPC appointed Jason Flanagan as chief claims and customer officer (CCCO) to improve not only the terrorism reinsurance pool but also the proposed cyclone reinsurance pool, which aims to provide coverage to improve insurance accessibility and affordability for residents and businesses in cyclone-prone areas.
Flanagan has substantial experience across claims and customer functional areas in the insurance industry, previously serving as the head of general insurance claims and head of customer care and regulatory change at Westpac, and the head of contact centres and head of customer relations at BT Financial Group.
In his new role, which commenced on February 07, Flanagan leads ARPC’s project to implement the proposed cyclone reinsurance pool.
Commenting on the new leadership team member’s experience, Dr. Wallace said: “Jason was on the ground during the Townsville floods in 2019, where he gained firsthand experience about how such events impact local communities and the important role that general insurance plays in the community.”
