Any change by the European Commission to its timetable for introducing Solvency II should be made “sooner rather than later”, according to FSA insurance director Julian Adams.
Under a French proposal to the European Commission, reported today, Solvency II would be formally introduced in 2013, but insurers would not have to stick to the directive’s new capital requirements until 2014.
Speaking at a conference this morning on post-FSA insurance regulation, Adams said that the legislative timetable for pushing through the directive is “extremely tight”.
If the commission wanted to revise the timetable, he said it should make the decision “sooner rather than later”.
But he insisted that the FSA was still committed to implement Solvency II in early 2013, despite the mooted 12 month delay.
He said: “If the commission wanted to change the implementation timetable that is something we could see coming, but we will be ready for the date that is set.”
“The only prudent thing we can do is plan for that eventuality, all of the FSA’s work is geared up to that."
He was backed up by FSA chief executive Hector Sants. He said: “We will be ready and we require firms to be ready until we hear otherwise.”
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