Delays hit new insurer rules
TIME is running out for the implementation of Solvency II, the new regulatory capital regime for insurance companies, according to accounting firm KPMG.
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is required to supply proposals for the technical details of the regime by the end of this year, but has been repeatedly pushing back the deadline by which it has to submit the draft details, with the latest suggested dates now in 2016.
Insurers are required to begin complying with the new regime in 2013, but KPMG insurance director Janine Hawes says there are now real fears that the details of the scheme will not be decided until late 2012, leaving little time for the industry to adapt.
“This is not what was expected at the start of the Solvency II journey, when the insurance industry was led to believe that it would have a year to comply after all the requirements were known,” she said.
The matter is complicated by additional delays from the European Commission, which needs to publish its own drafts before EIOPA can hold a public consultation on its proposals.
Hawes added: “Whilst it is true that insurers know the general direction of the rules, in terms of the final detail much of the industry is being kept in the dark.”