Task force asked to looked into terrorism insurance concerns

The US federal anti-terrorism task force has been put on the spot to research terrorism insurance concerns prior to issuing its terrorism insurance market report due for release later this year.
Under the terms of the 2005 Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act (TRIEA), the report must be delivered to Congress by Sept. 30, 2006. Specific areas that the report should address, was referenced in a letter sent to Treasury Secretary John Snow on June 22, 2006. The letter, drafted by seven House of Representatives from the Republican Party (representing either current or former members of the House Financial Services Committee), asks the Presidential Working Group on Financial Markets to look at five areas dealing with the long-term availability and affordability of terrorism insurance. These issues include:
* the need for a vibrant terrorism reinsurance market;
* improvement in calculating terrorism risk;
* problems that must be addressed to ensure a functioning private insurance market;
* the need to increase take-up rates and reduced government exposure; and,
* the threat of nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological (NBCR) attacks and insurance-related challenges
Under the TRIA extension, the federal governments financial backstop will be extended for companies insuring future catastrophic terrorist attacks up until and ending at the beginning of 2008. BY the end of 2007 this backstop will sunset unless reauthorization is granted.