LONDON (Reuters)—Governments and companies are broadly agreedthat Europe's new Solvency II capital rules for insurers shouldtake effect in January 2014, a year later than originally planned,British Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban said onThursday.

“There is a broad consensus in Europe that firms will berequired to comply by 2014, with some 'soft' implementation from2013,” Hoban told a conference organised by the Association ofBritish Insurers (ABI).

The Financial Services Authority (FSA), Britain's financialregulator, said in October it would assume a 2014 implementationdeadline, but European authorities have not formally changed thestart date.

European Union ministers agreed in September that nationalgovernments should have legislation in place enforcing Solvency IIby January 2013, but insurers will in practice not be required tocomply until a year later, said Karel Van Hulle, head of theEuropean Commission's insurance and pensions unit.

“(During 2013) they will have to calculate their solvencyrequirements and provide information to their supervisors to showthey are ready to go in January 2014,” Van Hulle told Reuters onthe sidelines of the conference.

Solvency II, aimed at protecting consumers and investors frominsurance failures, requires insurers to hold capital in proportionto the risks they underwrite, replacing less sophisticated ruleswhere capital varies according to turnover.

Some European insurers fear that the rules could lead to anexcessive ratcheting up of capital requirements, and others havecomplained about the cost of preparing for the new regime.

The Association of British Insurers, whose members includePrudential Plc, Aviva Plc and Legal & General Plc , has put thecost of adapting to Solvency II at 100 million pounds ($156.7million) for big multinational companies, while the Lloyd's ofLondon insurance market has said it is on course to spend more than250 million.

ABI chairman Tim Breedon said economic and financial marketturmoil triggered by the eurozone sovereign debt crisis hadreinforced the need to make sure Solvency II did not impose anunnecessary burden on the industry.

He also said the new regime should not prevent insurers fromtaking part in a British scheme to boost private sector investmentin infrastructure projects.

“It would be a technical and political failure for the UK andEurope … if we allow regulation to tie our hands and prevent usfrom playing our part tackling the recession,” Breedon told theconference.

The current draft of Solvency II would impose a higher capitalcharge for infrastructure assets, potentially deterring insurersand pension funds from investing in them.