Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), a large association of property-casualty insurance companies, has proposed to Congress an alternative to the scheme set forth in the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) which is expiring. In its press release, PCI says:
"PCI’s market-based approach focuses on bringing additional capacity to the terrorism insurance marketplace by employing private market tools coupled with the certainty that can only be provided by high level federal government financial backing. The solution would spur insurers to enter the market, enable insurers to share or “buy down” their risk, and allow for the development of a catastrophe bonds market and similar facilities that would encourage greater private capital participation in the market."
"Csiszar Urges Congress to Adopt a Market-Based Terrorism Insurance Solution" (July 27, 2005).
A three-page outline of their proposal can be found in a " Key elements" PDF
The U.S. Treasury has also argued for significant changes in TRIA. See Unintended Consequences: Treasury Assesses TRIA: Revisions, Limits Needed
In "Who Bears the Risks of Terror," New York Times July 10, 2005, Edmund L. Andrews' provides a concise and readable "fly-over" of the principal issues in the debate over the future of TRIA. He notes a developing red state / blue state divide and the positions of Rep. Delay and Sen. Frist that the role of federal help "had run its course."Unintended Consequences: NYTimes on distributing risks of terror
Posted by dougsimpson at July 28, 2005 04:09 PM