The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) set tongues wagging yesterday with an announcement that as many as 90 people in “responsible person” positions in the general industry may be removed in the wake of the HIH Royal Commission report. But who? APRA’s not saying, so you’ll have to guess.

APRA Executive GM Charles Littrell said as many as 90 “directors, senior managers, auditors and actuaries” may be targeted for breaching the “fitness and propriety” requirements in the Insurance Act.

“We don’t expect that APRA will need to disqualify all or even perhaps the majority of these people, but these decisions will require substantial work over the coming months,” he said.

So why say anything at all? Some observers suggested yesterday that the regulator is just helping to keep the whole HIH issue on the front-burner, while others suggested it was just following royal commissioner Neville Owen’s suggestion that it get more aggressive with the industry.

Mr Littrell said APRA also is working to refer individuals, where appropriate, to offshore regulators in cases where the HIH Royal Commission noted questionable actions by individuals who fall outside APRA’s reach.