The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) will delay implementing Solvency II rules on group capital for an undetermined time.This news comes after months of the authority saying it would stick to the 2014 deadline to implement the capital requirement rules set forth by the European Union, though the EU has continued to struggle to finalise the details surrounding the regime causing repeated delays.The BMA, which has applied for third-country equivalence, said it is diverting from its original plan and will wait until further notice to implement Solvency II.“With respect to the delay being experienced in the implementation of Solvency II in Europe, the Authority continues to consider the impact this will have on global efforts to achieve effective group supervision,” the BMA said in a letter to stakeholders this week. “We will delay the legal enforceability of the group enhanced capital requirement (ECR), until a date to be determined after a meeting at which industry views will be heard. The Authority previously communicated a deferral of the ECR and the eligible capital rules for the Long-Term companies until 1st January 2014. In the coming weeks prior to year end, the Authority will provide further communication on the timing of the group ECR and on any other transitional arrangements to be undertaken.”The Solvency II regime troubles stem from European governments disagreeing on how to calculate the amount of capital that should be held against life insurance policies.Meanwhile Bermuda had been charging ahead, planning to abide by the 2014 start date leaving some local insurers to wonder if the Island would have their ducks in a row before Europe did.“They (the BMA) have been put in a nasty place by a big bully boy, being the European Union, and they have played their hand very well,” former Hiscox Bermuda CEO Charles Dupplin told the Bermuda Insurance Journal this summer. “The laugh is, Bermuda is going to arrive at the European nirvana and Europe is going to fall short.”Earlier this month, The Financial Times reported that Gabriel Bernardino, chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, said the changes may not be adopted before 2016 though some experts believe that date was optimistic.One particular hurdle, said FT, is overcoming how to regulate countries within Europe that have their own insurance products and business models.“You may have something called Solvency II but it will not necessarily have the same harmonisation across Europe,” said Nigel Wilson, CEO of FTSE 100 life assurance and savings group, to FT. “There may be all sorts of versions of it.”