[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 70 (Thursday, April 11, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14725-14726]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07216]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY


Comments in Aid of Analyses of the Terrorism Risk Insurance 
Program

AGENCY: Departmental Offices, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA) created the 
Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (Program) 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 markets to 
stabilize and build insurance capacity to absorb any future

[[Page 14726]]

losses for terrorism events. Treasury requests comments from interested 
parties concerning the issues that Treasury will be analyzing in 
connection with its next report concerning the participation of small 
insurers in the Program, including any competitive challenges such 
insurers face in the terrorism risk insurance marketplace.

DATES: Submit comments on or before May 13, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically through the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov, or by mail to the 
Federal Insurance Office, Attn: Richard Ifft, Room 1410 MT, Department 
of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20220. 
Because postal mail may be subject to processing delays, it is 
recommended that comments be submitted electronically. If submitting 
comments by mail, please submit an original version with two copies. 
Comments should be captioned with ``2019 TRIA Small Insurer Study 
Comments.'' Please include your name, group affiliation, address, email 
address, and telephone number(s) in your comment. Where appropriate, a 
comment should include a short Executive Summary (no more than five 
single-spaced pages).

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 (not a toll-free number), or Lindsey Baldwin, 
Senior Policy Analyst, Federal Insurance Office, at (202) 622-3220 (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:

I. Background

    Section 111 of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization 
Act of 2015 (2015 Reauthorization Act) \1\ directs the Secretary, 
beginning in calendar year 2016, to ``require insurers participating in 
the Program to submit to the Secretary such information regarding 
insurance coverage for terrorism losses of such insurers as the 
Secretary considers appropriate to analyze the effectiveness of the 
Program[.]'' This information and data includes information regarding: 
(1) Lines of insurance with exposure to such losses; (2) premiums 
earned on such coverage; (3) geographical location of exposures; (4) 
pricing of such coverage; (5) the take-up rate for such coverage; (6) 
the amount of private reinsurance for acts of terrorism purchased; and 
(7) such other matters as the Secretary considers appropriate.
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    \1\ Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 
2015, Public Law 114-1, 129 Stat. 3 (2015).
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    In addition, Section 112 of the Reauthorization Act requires the 
Secretary to conduct, by June 30, 2017 and every other year thereafter, 
a study of small insurers (to be defined by the Secretary, as has been 
done under 31 CFR 50.4(z)) participating in the Program to identify any 
competitive challenges that small insurers face in the terrorism risk 
insurance marketplace. Section 112 also identifies specific matters 
that Treasury is to analyze in the small insurers study. In addition to 
the data that it has and will be collecting, Treasury seeks comments 
for use in the study that Treasury must conduct concerning the 
participation of small insurers in the Program.

II. Solicitation for Comments on Small Insurer Participation in the 
Program

    As discussed above, Treasury will be collecting certain data from 
small insurers as part of its 2019 TRIP Data Call, which Treasury will 
use (along with data collected by Treasury during prior TRIP Data 
Calls) in connection with the study. Treasury welcomes comments 
concerning small insurer participation in the Program generally, and 
invites responses to the following particular issues specified in 
Section 112 of the 2015 Reauthorization Act:
    (1) Changes to the market share, premium volume, and policyholder 
surplus of small insurers relative to large insurers.
    (2) How the property and casualty insurance market for terrorism 
risk differs between small and large insurers, and whether such a 
difference exists within other perils.
    (3) The impact of the Program's mandatory availability requirement 
under Section 103(c) of TRIA \2\ on small insurers.
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    \2\ Public Law 107-297, 116 Stat. 2322, codified at 15 U.S.C. 
6701, note. As 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.
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    (4) The effect of increasing the trigger amount for the Program 
under Section 103(e)(1)(B) of TRIA for small insurers.
    (5) The availability and cost of private reinsurance for small 
insurers.
    (6) The impact that state workers' compensation laws have on small 
insurers and workers' compensation carriers in the terrorism risk 
insurance marketplace.
    In addition, Treasury welcomes qualitative comments on the 
following specific topics that may be relevant to the competitiveness 
of small insurers in the terrorism risk insurance marketplace.
    (1) Any potential constraints on the ability of small insurers to 
provide coverage for nuclear, chemical, biological, and radiological 
(NBCR) risks.
    (2) Any risk management strategies and challenges faced by small 
insurers in maintaining the ability to pay losses associated with 
insured claims that are not subject to claims for the federal share of 
compensation (e.g., losses below the Program Trigger, within the 
insurer deductible, and within the insurer co-pay share).
    (3) Role of small insurers in covering cyber-related acts of 
terrorism under the Program.
    Treasury issued its first study of small insurers under the 2015 
Reauthorization Act in June 2017.\3\ In that study, Treasury addressed 
the statutory issues identified above, with reference to data collected 
by Treasury in the 2017 TRIP Data Call, as well as other available 
sources. Treasury requests further comment on these issues from 
interested parties, particularly with respect to any issue that an 
interested party believes may not be fully understood solely by 
reference to the aggregated data collected by Treasury.
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    \3\ U.S. Treasury, Study of Small Insurer Competitiveness in the 
Terrorism Risk Insurance Marketplace (June 2017), https://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/fio/reports-and-notices/Documents/Study_of_Small_Insurer_Competitiveness_in_the_Terrorism_Risk_Insurance_Marketplace_(June_2017).pdf.

    Dated: April 3, 2019.
Steven E. Seitz,
Director, Federal Insurance Office.
[FR Doc. 2019-07216 Filed 4-10-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-25-P