New Zealand general insurer Tower has announced it is reviewing plans to return NZ$114.5 million of what it had thought was surplus capital after the Reserve Bank ruled it must hold $80 million of surplus capital to obtain a full insurance licence.Tower has slimmed down over the last year, raising $370 million from the sale of its life insurance, health insurance and investment management arms to become a focused general insurer.It has already returned $120 million of capital to shareholders and had planned to return a further $114.5 million after the settlement of the sale of its life arm to Fidelity Life on August 1. But Tower signalled last week that it was still in discussions with the Reserve Bank, which is the insurance industry's new regulator and is going through the process of licensing all insurers by September 9. Tower said the Reserve Bank advised it on Monday that from August 16 it would need a minimum solvency margin of NZ$80 million above its minimum solvency capital level.  Tower said it had sufficient funds to meet the requirement, given it had the $114.5 million of 'surplus' capital from the sale to Fidelity Life. "In light of these new requirements, our previously signalled capital management plan will be reviewed as part of a prudent capital management strategy," Tower's new chief executive, David Hancock, said. Tower provided no time-frame for its capital review. The company's main competitors in New Zealand are IAG and Suncorp Metway.