The Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation has teamed up with the University of Queensland on a three-year resilience study, and has confirmed that all insurers required to participate in its cyclone pool have now joined.

The research program aims to understand how risk pooling can support individual and community resilience to cyclones, to improve community outcomes for the ARPC-run reinsurance pool.

“By combining our industry knowledge with the University of Queensland’s academic expertise, we aim to explore important factors in cyclone resilience to better protect vulnerable regions and to support cyclone and related flooding disaster risk mitigation,” ARPC CEO Christopher Wallace said.

The program will start with a review of risk pooling resilience implications in peer countries, which will inform the following two years of in-field research. The study’s first paper is expected to be published by the end of the year.

The ARPC also says that all mandated insurers have joined the cyclone pool.

The scheme, which began in July 2022, required large insurers to join by the end of 2023. Smaller companies with householders cover gross written premium of $10 million to $300 million had until the end of last year. 

Dr Wallace says full participation represents a milestone for the scheme.

“This participation ensures the cyclone pool will strengthen the ability of insurers to offer more affordable cyclone insurance to homeowners, small businesses and communities that might otherwise face higher premiums or limited access to coverage,” he said.

The pool is backed by a $10 billion government guarantee.