Fears of £600bn pension bill UK companies will have to pump as much as £600bn ($930bn) into their corporate pension schemes under a revamp of pensions regulation being considered in Europe, new estimates suggest. Pensions minister Steve Webb last month attacked Brussels" proposals to adapt capital rules being introduced for insurers, saying they would cost British industry £100bn and could mean that companies walk away from final salary schemes. IN Insurance But the Confederation of British Industry and the National Association of Pensions Funds, among others, believe that underestimates the likely costs. Now, a JPMorgan Asset Management report puts the cost of a Solvency II-type regime for UK defined benefit schemes at £600bn, more than half their current liabilities of about £1tn. Paul Sweeting, one of the authors of the JPMorgan report, said: "This is a realistic scenario if the current proposals for the new Solvency II insurance regime are put through into pensions. It takes a special kind of regulatory nous to create something so hated by so many people. They've got the TUC lining up with the CBI. The debate will heat up this week after Monday's deadline for responses to a consultation issued two months ago by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa), the lead European regulator for the sectors. The UK will be disproportionately affected as its schemes account for 60 per cent of all defined benefit schemes in Europe, followed by the Netherlands, at 24 per cent. Eiopa is proposing to adapt the Solvency II capital rules for insurers - due to be introduced in 2014 - for use in assessing the solvency of pension schemes. The changes will be made as part of the European Commission's review of the 2003 Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provisions directive. Joanne Segars, NAPF chief executive, said: "The UK already has one of the best protected pensions systems in the world. Perversely, these new laws would make pensions for UK workers less generous and less secure. Mr Sweeting said the £600bn bill was calculated mainly by using the much lower discount rates applied in Solvency II, which are based on European swap rates as a proxy for a "risk-free" rate of interest. Typically, UK schemes currently use the much more generous returns available on AA-rated corporate bonds to discount their future liabilities. However, the bill could be reduced dramatically if pension schemes were allowed to match the returns they generate from some of the assets they actually hold against liabilities with a similar duration.