WASHINGTON–With 107 days left to complete a terrorism insurance marketplace study and develop an administration position, the Treasury Department is on track to meet the delivery deadline, an official said.

Speaking to the Real Estate Roundtable in Washington today, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Emil W. Henry Jr. said the administration hopes to have the report, mandated by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act extension, completed by the Sept. 30 deadline and is examining dozens of comments concerning problems insuring terrorism risk.

“As you might imagine, given this short time frame, Treasury and other members of the PWG have been moving quickly to meet this mandate,” Mr. Henry said.

The bill mandating the report requires the President's Working Group on Financial Markets to analyze the long-term availability and affordability of terrorism insurance.

Aspects of the study include examining terrorism coverage for risks not currently included in the government's Terrorism Risk Insurance Act program, such as group life and coverage for chemical, nuclear, biological and radiological attacks.

The Treasury serves as the chair of the President's Working Group, and sought comment on the issue up until the end of April through a notice in the Federal Register. Mr. Henry said the department received approximately 40 comment letters.

“We have been evaluating those comments and moving forward on producing our report,” he said. “We look forward to the completion of this task and ongoing dialogue on the appropriate role of the federal government in the terrorism risk insurance market.”

In his comments, Mr. Henry said the extension to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act passed last December “met a number of the administration's key priorities” by increasing insurer liabilities, limiting the scope of the program and maintaining its temporary status.

The extension was signed by President Bush less than two weeks before the TRIA program was set to expire, extending it until the end of 2007, after much debate by lawmakers. The version of the extension bill that ultimately passed came from the Senate, while the House had passed a bill that would have expanded the program and established different retention levels for different lines of coverage.

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Treasury On Target For TRIA Report Deadline

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