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The new regime, originally intended to come into force this year, is aimed at making insurers hold capital in strict proportion to the risks they underwrite and is expected to usher in higher capital requirements for much of the industry.
"I think it continues to be possible to have the starting of the process on January 1, 2014, and use appropriate transition periods to deal with the situations we have under discussion", Gabriel Bernardino, chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority, told reporters at a conference in Vienna.
In July, EU lawmakers and officials failed to agree a final draft of Solvency II before the European Parliament went on its summer break, pushing back a parliamentary vote on the proposals until late 2012, and putting the rest of the legislative timetable at risk.
EU countries differ over how the capital buffer for long-term life insurance contracts should be calculated, a key consideration for the pensions industry.
Further delays to Solvency II would also dent the international credibility of the EU, which had intended Solvency II to be a global benchmark for other countries' rules.