KPMG has said it is extremely disappointed by the news that a key European Parliament vote on Omnibus II has been delayed by more than three months.
It emerged yesterday that the plenary vote on the legislation which underpins the introduction of new Solvency Ii rules for the insurance industry had been put back from July 2 until September 10.
In a statement, KPMG's Solvency Ii director, Janine Hawes, said the delay cast doubt over whether the scheduled January 1 2014 cut-off for firms to be compliant with Solvency II would remain.
After last week’s positive vote on Omnibus II by the Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee, KPMG had been 'hopeful' the legislation could be finalised ahead of the parliamentary summer recess. This would have allowed production of the level two text later this year, Ms Hawes said.
But, she said, 'today's confirmation of a further three month delay means that the vote will now not occur until after parliament reconvenes, with a consequential delay to the rest of the Solvency II timeline'.
'It remains very unclear when the timetable will become static and this latest delay makes it likely that the Solvency II implementation date of January 1 2013 that was voted on last week will now not be achievable.'
Ms Hawes added: 'Clarity is now desperately needed as to whether the firm compliance date of January 1 2014 will remain, which realistically means firms will have less than a year between final requirements being known and compliance being required, or whether we can now expect to see an announcement of a year's delay to January 1 2015.'
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