GARDINER WINS HIH APPEAL

Justin Gardener, formerly a non-executive director at failed Australian insurer HIH, has won his appeal against a 2006 ruling barring him from any senior role in the insurance industry. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal said today that Mr Gardiner should be treated as if he had never been disqualified. The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) ruled in June 2006 that Mr Gardener be barred from serving in a senior role at any insurance firm. He had been a non-executive director at HIH from December 1998 to March 2001. He had also been chairman of the audit committee for part of that time. The Tribunal's decision is the second blow for APRA, which in August this year saw overturned its ban on former HIH non-executive director Robert Stitt.