The provisional liquidator for HIH says creditors will receive less than 50 cents in the dollar, with liabilities well over $3 billion.

KPMG Partner Tony McGrath, who was appointed as provisional liquidator to HIH on March 15, said there “are certainly signs that this business was severely damaged not just in the last nine months but going back for a period of time”.

While his comments on Channel 9’s Business Sunday program were couched in very careful terms, Mr McGrath made it plain that his findings to this point reveal a company making bad decisions for years.

He wouldn’t be drawn to comment on allegations that the company was accepting new business while it was insolvent, but Mr Grath did say: “As to whether or not there has been fraud, it is just far too early for me to be conclusive on that. I would think that ASIC through its investigations will have some fairly strong views on that, and with the efforts they are putting in, it may well be they will have some views in a reasonable period of time.”

He indicated that HIH’s drive for market share “may have been overly aggressive”.

“We’re certainly aware that at least by December, there were warning bells out there. It was probably earlier than that, when you consider that they entered into the sale of the Allianz business last August and September, which in hindsight looks more like from my perspective as though… that decision to sell really meant the business was fast getting to a point where it was no longer viable.”