Regulator Ignored Report
Illawarra Mercury
Thursday November 7, 2002
THE regulator responsible for overseeing HIH Insurance yesterday admitted he did not read a damning report on the doomed insurer handed to him four months before it collapsed.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) branch manager Craig Thorburn told the HIH Royal Commission he had requested a copy of the Ernst & Young (E&Y) report be sent to him in time to take it to London, where he was travelling on non-APRA business.
HIH's bank, Westpac, had asked E&Y to conduct the review because it was worried about HIH's ability to continue paying off its debts.
Mr Thorburn was handed the report on December 7, 2000, but did not have time to read the 30-page report during a flight to London.
© 2002 Illawarra Mercury
