Rep Frank sees fast terror insurance action

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee said on Thursday he expects swift action to extend a federal program insuring against terrorism risk.

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) is set to expire at the end of 2007. Rep. Barney Frank has said before that he favors renewal of the post-9/11 program.

"We'll do TRIA very quickly," the Massachusetts Democrat said at the annual Reuters Regulation Summit in Washington.

"TRIA is important not so much for the insurance industry as for the commercial real estate industry. You won't get any buildings built in New York, in Boston, in Chicago unless you have it ... We will extend TRIA," Frank said.

On how long to extend it, Frank moved away from earlier statements in which he said he did not favor a permanent TRIA.

He said at the summit: "My preference would be permanent ... If and when terrorism ever disappears from the world, then we can always get rid of it.

"But the thing is ... you need to be able to make long-term commitments, so you need a long term. But whether it's permanent or 10 years doesn't make any practical difference."

The next chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee favors making TRIA permanent. Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd staked out his position last month, saying he would not favor another temporary extension.

The September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington cost insurers billions of dollars. Shortly afterward, the TRIA program made the government an insurer of last resort if private insurers could not handle massive terrorism damages.