"Many attempts to open the roundtable to be more inclusive and representative were rebuffed," the letter stated. "In recognition of the fact that the roundtable represented only a small, select portion of the industry, and that even this select portion of the industry was unable to reach a consensus, it seems appropriate at this time to move any future discussions to the NAIC Reinsurance Task Force to allow all interested parties an opportunity to fashion a solution."

For several years representatives of alien non-U.S. reinsurers have sought to relax the 100 percent collateralization rule for those companies who have proved their credit worthiness.

But they have been opposed by the domestic primary and secondary insurance sectors who feel such a relaxation would pose solvency threats and ultimately jeopardize policyholders in the event of financial failure.

Last November an ad hoc group that for the past several months had been attempting to reach a compromise came up with one that would overhaul all reinsurance regulation to focus on all companies regardless of country of origin.

In Monday's letter, the trade groups said that since the alien companies had not yet met concerns about enforcing judgments and international accounting standards that lack uniformity, the time was not ripe for such a drastic overhaul of current regulation.

Mr. Serio is set to leave office next week. Ad hoc group member and North Dakota Commissioner Jim Poolman said the thrust of the trades' letter was unfortunate.

"I find it unfortunate that since we couldn't come up with a quick consensus between the foreign and domestic insurers that they just want us to stop our work," he said. "We knew this was not going to be easy and we don't think we should stop our work just because one side or the other did not get their way."