[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 65 (Thursday, April 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13392-13394]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-06618]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
2019 Data Call Under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program
AGENCY: Departmental Offices, U.S. Department of the Treasury.
ACTION: Data Collection.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA),
insurers that participate in the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (TRIP
or Program) are directed to submit information for the 2019 TRIP Data
Call for the reporting period from January 1, 2018 to December 31,
2018. Participating insurers are required to register and report
information in a series of forms approved by the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB). All insurers writing commercial property and casualty
insurance in lines subject to TRIP must respond to this data call no
later than May 15, 2019, subject to certain exceptions identified in
this notice.
DATES: Participating insurers must register and submit data no later
than May 15, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Participating insurers will register through a website that
has been established for this data call. After registration, insurers
will receive data collection forms through a secure file transfer
portal, and they will submit the requested data through the same secure
portal. Participating insurers can register for the 2019 TRIP Data Call
at https://tripsection111data.com/. Additional information about the
data call, including sample data collection forms and instructions, can
be found on the TRIP website at https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/fin-mkts/Pages/TRIP_data.aspx.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Ifft, Senior Insurance
Regulatory Policy Analyst, Federal Insurance Office, Room 1410 MT,
Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20220, at (202) 622-2922 (this is not a toll-free number), or Lindsey
Baldwin, Senior Policy Analyst, Federal Insurance Office, Room 1410 MT,
Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20220, at (202) 622-3220 (this is not a toll-free number). Persons who
have difficulty hearing or speaking may access these numbers via TTY by
calling the toll-free Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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I. Background
TRIA \1\ created the Program within the U.S. Department of the
Treasury (Treasury) to address disruptions in the market for terrorism
risk insurance, to help ensure the continued availability and
affordability of commercial property and casualty insurance for
terrorism risk, and to allow for the private market to stabilize and
build insurance capacity to absorb any future losses for terrorism
events. The Program has been reauthorized on a number of occasions,
most recently in the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization
Act of 2015 (2015 Reauthorization Act).\2\ Section 111 of the 2015
Reauthorization Act \3\ (Section 111) requires the Secretary of the
Treasury (Secretary) to perform periodic analyses of the Program. In
order to assist the Secretary with this process, Section 111 requires
insurers to submit on an annual basis certain insurance data and
information regarding their participation in the Program.\4\ The
Federal Insurance Office (FIO) is authorized to assist the Secretary in
the administration of the Program,\5\ including conducting the annual
data call.
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\1\ Public Law 107-297, 116 Stat. 2322, codified at 15 U.S.C.
6701, note. Because the provisions of TRIA (as amended) appear in a
note, instead of particular sections, of the United States Code, the
provisions of TRIA are identified by the sections of the law.
\2\ Public Law 114-1, 129 Stat. 3.
\3\ TRIA sec. 104(h).
\4\ Treasury regulations also address the annual data collection
requirement. See 31 CFR 50.51, 50.54.
\5\ 31 U.S.C. 313(c)(1)(D).
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On November 9, 2018, Treasury published the data collection forms
that it proposed to use in the 2019 TRIP Data Call, and invited the
public to provide comments concerning these forms.\6\ Treasury received
two comments.\7\ In response, and as discussed further below, Treasury
has made a number of modifications to the forms and instructions. OMB
has approved the use of these forms under Control Number 1505-0257.
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\6\ 83 FR 56152 (Nov. 9, 2018).
\7\ Treasury received comments from the Sentry Insurance Group
and AIR Worldwide. The comments are available at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=TREAS-TRIP-2018-0026.
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II. Changes to 2019 Data Call
For purposes of the 2019 TRIP Data Call, FIO, state insurance
regulators, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
(NAIC) will again utilize the consolidated data call mechanism first
developed for use in the 2018 TRIP Data Call. This approach relies upon
four (4) joint reporting templates--to be completed by Small Insurers,
Non-Small Insurers, Alien Surplus Lines Insurers, and Captive Insurers,
as identified further below--and is designed to satisfy the regulatory
objectives of both Treasury and state insurance regulators.
Additionally, the joint reporting templates reduce burden on
participating insurers. State insurance regulators and/or the NAIC will
provide separate notification regarding the reporting of information
into the state reporting portal, including any supplemental information
reporting requirements to state insurance regulators separate from what
is required by Treasury.
A. Reporting Process
Insurers subject to the consolidated data call will report on a
group basis, unless they are not part of a group, in which case they
will report on an individual company basis. For the 2019 Data Call,
Treasury will again work with the National Council on Compensation
Insurance (NCCI), the California Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating
Bureau (California WCIRB), and the New York Compensation Insurance
Rating Board (NYCIRB) to provide (either directly or through other
workers' compensation rating bureaus), on behalf of participating
insurers, the workers' compensation insurance elements of the data call
relating to premium and payroll information. The data aggregator used
by Treasury will provide such insurers with reporting templates that do
not require them to report this workers' compensation data. Reporting
insurers that only write workers' compensation policies are still
required to register for the data call, provide general company
information, and provide data related to private reinsurance. The data
received from NCCI, the California WCIRB, and/or the NYCIRB will be
merged with the information provided by the insurers.
B. Reporting Templates
There are two principal changes to the reporting templates from the
2018 TRIP Data Call. First, the exposures worksheet, which is included
within all four reporting templates, has been modified to include
questions seeking information on policy limits for nuclear, biological,
chemical, and radiological (NBCR) exposures, as a subset of the total
reported policy limits covering terrorism risk. Second, a new modeled
loss question (which includes an NBCR component) is included on the
reinsurance worksheet that will be completed by non-small insurers,
alien surplus lines insurers, and captive insurers.\8\
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\8\ See generally 83 FR 56152, 56152-53 (Nov. 9, 2018). Small
insurers complete a separate reinsurance worksheet that does not
contain a modeled loss question.
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The comments received posed a number of questions concerning the
manner of reporting contemplated under the proposed reporting
templates, including the connection between the federal and state data
calls. Although the comments concerning the manner of reporting did not
indicate any changes to the forms or instructions that should be made,
Treasury will provide further instructions concerning the completion of
the forms through webinars that it will conduct, particularly in
connection with the new data elements for NBCR insurance limits. In
addition, Treasury has made minor changes to the forms as originally
proposed to correct typographical errors and to make language
consistent across forms.
Furthermore, one comment suggested a number of changes to the
modeled loss question. In response to this comment, Treasury made a
number of changes to the modeled loss question, designed to make it
easier for reporting insurers to respond to the hypothetical scenario
presented.
There are also a number of template changes required by the Program
regulations that are specific to individual insurer categories. For the
2019 TRIP Data Call, an insurer will qualify as a small insurer if it
had both 2017 policyholder surplus of less than $800 million and 2017
direct earned premiums in TRIP-eligible lines of insurance of less than
$800 million.\9\ Of this group, small insurers with TRIP-eligible
direct earned premiums of less than $10 million in 2018 will be exempt
from the 2019 TRIP Data Call.\10\ Neither captive insurers nor alien
surplus lines insurers are eligible for this reporting exemption.
Insurers defined as small insurers for the 2019 Data Call will report
the same information to Treasury (on a group basis) and state insurance
regulators (also on a group basis), except as state insurance
regulators may
[[Page 13394]]
separately direct for purposes of the state data call.
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\9\ Small insurers are defined in 31 CFR 50.4(z) as insurers (or
an affiliated group of insurers) whose policyholder surplus for the
immediately preceding year is less than five times the Program
Trigger for the current year, and whose TRIP-eligible lines direct
earned premium for the previous year is also five times less than
the Program Trigger. Accordingly, for the 2019 Data Call, an insurer
qualifies as a small insurer if its 2017 policyholder surplus and
2017 direct earned premium are less than five times the 2018 Program
Trigger of $160 million.
\10\ Individual insurers with less than $10 million in TRIP-
eligible lines direct earned premium that are part of a larger group
must still report as part of the group as a whole, if the group's
TRIP-eligible lines direct earned premium is over $10 million.
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The non-small insurer template will be completed by insurance
groups (or individual insurers not affiliated with a group) that had
either a 2017 policyholder surplus of greater than $800 million or 2017
direct earned premium in TRIP-eligible lines of insurance equal to or
greater than $800 million, and that are not subject to reporting on the
captive insurer or alien surplus lines insurer reporting templates.
Otherwise, insurers defined as non-small insurers for the 2019 Data
Call will report the same information to Treasury (on a group basis)
and state insurance regulators (also on a group basis), except as state
insurance regulators may separately direct for purposes of the state
data call.
The reporting template for captive insurers does not contain
additional changes specific to those insurers. Captive insurers are
defined in 31 CFR 50.4(g) as insurers licensed under the captive
insurance laws or regulations of any state. Captive insurers that wrote
policies in TRIP-eligible lines of insurance during the reporting
period are required to register and submit data to Treasury, unless
they did not provide their insureds with any terrorism risk insurance
subject to the Program.
The reporting template for alien surplus lines insurers does not
contain additional changes specific to those insurers. Alien surplus
lines insurers are defined in 31 CFR 50.4(o)(1)(i)(B) as insurers not
licensed or admitted to engage in the business of providing primary or
excess insurance in any state, but that are eligible surplus line
insurers listed on the NAIC Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers. Alien
surplus lines insurers that are part of a larger group classified as a
non-small insurer or a small insurer should report to Treasury as part
of the group, using the appropriate template. Therefore, the alien
surplus lines insurer template should only be used by an alien surplus
lines insurer that is not part of a larger group subject to the 2019
Data Call.
C. Supplemental Reference Documents
Treasury will continue to make available on its data collection
website (https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/fin-mkts/Pages/TRIP_data.aspx) documents providing a complete ZIP code listing for
areas subject to reporting on the Geographic Exposures (Nationwide)
worksheet, as well as several hypothetical policy reporting scenarios.
D. Training Webinars
As in prior years, Treasury will hold four (4) separate training
sessions corresponding to the four reporting templates that will be
used by insurers (Alien Surplus Lines Insurers, Captive Insurers,
Insurer (Non-Small) Groups or Companies, and Small Insurers). The
webinars will be held on April 9 and April 10, 2019 to assist reporting
insurers in responding to the proposed collection, with each webinar
focusing on a specific reporting template. Specific times and details
concerning participation in the webinar will be made available on the
TRIP data collection website, and recordings of each webinar will be
made available on the website following each training session.
III. 2019 TRIP Data Call
For the 2019 TRIP Data Call, which covers the reporting period of
January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018, Treasury will continue to use
four different data collection templates.\11\ Insurers will fill out
the template for ``Insurer (Non-Small) Groups or Companies,'' unless
the insurer meets the definition of a small insurer, captive insurer,
or alien surplus insurer, as set forth in 31 CFR 50.4. Such small
insurers, captive insurers, and alien surplus lines insurers are
required to complete an alternate template.
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\11\ See 31 CFR 50.51(c).
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Treasury, through an insurance statistical aggregator, will accept
group or insurer registration forms through https://tripsection111data.com/. Upon registration, the aggregator will
transmit individualized data collection forms (in Excel format) to the
reporting group or insurer via a secure file transfer portal. The
reporting group or insurer may transmit a complete data submission via
the same portal using either the provided Excel forms or a .csv
file.\12\
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\12\ Specifications for submission of data using a .csv file
will be provided to the insurer by the aggregator.
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Copies of the instructions and data collection forms are available
on Treasury's website in read-only format. Reporting insurers will
obtain the fillable reporting forms directly from the data aggregator
after registering for the data collection process.
Reporting insurers are required to register and submit complete
data to Treasury no later than May 15, 2019. Because of the timing and
content of Treasury's 2019 report to Congress, no extensions will be
granted. Reporting insurers can ask the data aggregator questions about
registration, form completion, and submission through
[email protected]. Treasury, as identified above, may also be
contacted directly with questions. Questions regarding submission of
data to state insurance regulators or the property supplement should be
directed to the appropriate state insurance regulator or the NAIC.
All data submitted to the aggregator is subject to the
confidentiality and data protection provisions of TRIA and the Program
Rules, as well as to section 552 of title 5, United States Code,
including any exceptions thereunder. In accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act, (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the information collected
through the web portal has been approved by OMB under Control Number
1505-0257. An agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not
required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a
valid OMB control number.
Dated: March 29, 2019.
Steven E. Seitz,
Director, Federal Insurance Office.
[FR Doc. 2019-06618 Filed 4-3-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-25-P