The Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC) has begun purchasing its retrocession program, scheduling meetings with international reinsurers this week.

CEO Chris Wallace told insuranceNEWS.com.au the aim is to buy the same amount of cover but with a smaller budget.

“Our net assets are slowly reducing over time because our outgoings are greater than our income,” he said.

Dr Wallace hopes falling rates will enable capacity to be maintained, even with a smaller spend. Last year $56.5 million was paid for a $2.9 billion retrocession program.

The ARPC has now fully relocated to Sydney from Canberra, with some staff not making the move.

“We did everything we could to look after our Canberra staff,” Dr Wallace said. “Some new employees have started [in Sydney] and we are still operating with roughly the same number of people.”

The ARPC was established in 2003 to tackle a global withdrawal of terrorism insurance after the September 11 2001 attacks on the US.

Its overall capacity, which includes a $10 billion Commonwealth guarantee, is $13.3 billion.