The head of the Insurance and Pensions Unit at the European Commission, Karel Van Hulle, confirmed that a meeting had been scheduled in early May to discuss extending the current October 2012 implementation deadline for the Solvency II regulatory regime to 1 January 2013. It is thought that moving the deadline to January 2013 would also make more sense from a prior-year reporting perspective.
Van Hulle, who is the commissioner responsible for delivering the new directive, also denied that the legacy industry would be exempted from the high capital requirements it is believed the Solvency II regime would impose. The decision could be viewed as a significant disappointment for the run-off industry, which may struggle to meet the capital requirements necessary under the new regime.
