More than three-quarters of insurers believe that the implementation of Solvency II will be pushed back past its intended date in the beginning of 2014, according to a survey conducted by U.K.-based financial services firm Barnett Waddingham.

The poll found that a meager 24 percent of respondents believe that the capital requirements for insurers will be adopted using the timeline that was originally established, according to Insurance Insight.

Post Online reports that of the 39 participants in the poll, around 55 percent indicated that their Own Risk Solvency Assessment (ORSA) was being executed behind schedule, and 87 percent said that they will prioritize completing this task and performing their ORSA.

Almost-three-quarters, or 71 percent of respondents, said that they have been encountering challenges in putting the ORSA into corporate policies, according to Insurance Insight.

Kim Durniat, an associate at Barnett Waddingham, stated that "whilst we can see that firms are progressing with the quantitative aspects of Solvency II, it is essential that firms consider more closely what Solvency II means for their business," the media outlet reports. "Insurance companies need to review their approach to capital management" by reviewing such concerns as their investment strategy. 

The Basel III capital requirements are facing obstacles from European regulators, after a meeting of the region's lawmakers on the law's implementation ended in argument.

A meeting of regional finance ministers held during the week ending on May 4 broke up after a representative of the United Kingdom voiced objections, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Treasury has refused to elaborate on what the nation is opposed to.

Other countries in the 27-nation bloc were convinced that key issues including the role of national regulators and exact capital requirements had been ironed out, the media outlet reports. There is widespread regional support for the new legislation among various industry participants, with several European banks preparing for the new laws in advance by creating plans to meet the new requirements. BNP Paribas said that it plans to establish a Tier 1 capital ratio of 9 percent by January 2013.

Although various lending institutions in Europe have created plans to meet the new requirements, there are various industry participants that have warned of the increased costs that will come from adopting Basel III. HSBC group chairman Douglas Flint recently said in a speech that banks could be "hugely affected."

The adoption of the Volcker rule, which contains derivatives regulations impacting proprietary trading, has raised questions among market participants.

Lending institutions are unsure as to when the new rules will prompt them to halt proprietary trading activities, according to The Wall Street Journal. At meetings held earlier in the month, the heads of six U.S. banks expressed their discontent with new regulations to Federal Reserve Governor Daniel K. Tarullo, The New York Times reports.

Lawmakers received more than 400 letters with recommendations after announcing a request for comment, sources familiar with the matter have told The Wall Street Journal. There is no official date for when the new rules will be implemented, even though Tarullo urged lawmakers to stick to the previously-stated deadline.

Several market experts have urged these regulators to start over from scratch and recreate the legislation, according to The New York Times.

"Reproposal is necessary for several reasons," industry representative the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association wrote last month in a letter to regulators. "First, the changes to the proposal needed to correctly implement the Volcker Rule mandate and to avoid serious harm to our financial markets are so extensive that reproposal will be required as a matter of administrative law."

Traders taking part in derivatives risk management have been reducing superfluous contracts and therefore reducing the notional value of their exposure, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) said at its recent annual meeting in Chicago.

This reduction of overlapping contracts is meant to prepare these market participants for new derivatives regulations that will require them to clear their trades centrally, according to The Financial Times.

The larger fraction of counterparties that are demanding collateral for trades is evidence of the preference that traders are displaying for centrally cleared transactions, the media outlet reports.

Various market experts have asserted that the increased importance of counterparties has reduced systemic risk by lowering the risk that one participant in a contract will default on their contractual obligations, according to the news source.

"There’s been so much compression that the whole market has shrunk," Athanassios Diplas, who co-chairs the ISDA’s industry governance committee and serves as a senior derivatives executive at Deutsche Bank, told the Financial Times. "There’s also been an honest-to-goodness drop in volumes. There’s so much uncertainty, some people aren’t trading."

International Financing Review reported earlier in the year that more than $20 trillion in swaps value had been eliminated in 2012 due to compression. 

Exchange operator CME Group received approval for a requested 90-day reprieve that will allow the exchange to postpone adopting derivatives regulations set forth by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to a statement.

The new margin regulations, which impact traders who are classified as spectators, will become effective starting August 5 instead of May 7. During the extension period, the affected firms will be required to comply with margin requirements that are applicable to hedgers, according to Reuters.

“During the extension period, CME Clearing will work with the CFTC to address member-customer concerns. Additionally, CME Group will keep member-customers informed during this period and provide adequate notice of any changes to margin requirements,” the exchange operator said in the statement.

The announced change in derivatives regulation was met with shock by various market participants who use the risk management tools, according to Reuters. They registered surprise even though financial industry regulators have been working on new regimes for years.

Certain traders blamed the announcement of the new margin requirements for widespread liquidation of corn positions on the previous day, as market participants decided to eliminate their contracts instead of tolerating the higher costs, the media outlet reports.