Movement at last for HIH creditors, with the NSW Supreme Court approving a scheme of arrangement on Friday that will allow the money to start flowing.

Liquidator Tony McGrath had hoped to have distributed as much as $2 billion in HIH assets to creditors – mostly reinsurance settlements – 12 months ago, but reinsurance contracts sold in London by HIH have complicated matters.

Last month a British court banned the HIH liquidator in the UK from repatriating $1 billion in recoveries to Australia if it was not to be distributed equally to creditors, as is required by UK law.

This is understood to have complicated the payout procedure, with initial payments to creditors now unlikely to be made before the middle of next year.