NEW YORK (Reuters) – The judge in a case over the restructuringof bond insurer MBIA said her decision was “getting there,” butgave no further indication on when she would rule.

“Trust me, I dream about your decision,” Justice Barbara Kapnicktold the lawyers in the case, who were in her courtroom for arelated proceeding on Thursday. “It's taken longer than I wouldhave liked.”

Kapnick, of New York State Supreme Court, heard arguments in Mayand June over whether the New York insurance department was rightto approve MBIA's split into two units.

Eighteen banks originally brought the case in 2009 against MBIAand the insurance department, including ABN Amro, Morgan Stanleyand UBS AG . Since then, all but Bank of America and SocieteGenerale settled.

The banks, which were MBIA policyholders, claimed they wereharmed in the restructuring when $5 billion was transferred out ofthe MBIA unit that insures risky mortgage debt and into a new unitthat guarantees municipal bonds.

The lawyers appeared before the judge on Thursday to discusspre-trial issues in a parallel fraud case that does not include theinsurance department.

The case is ABN Amro Bank v Dinallo, No. 601846/2009, New Yorkstate Supreme Court, New York County.