Former Zurich Australia CEO Murray Jones has been disqualified from running an insurance company, following a three-year investigation by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

Dubious reinsurance contracts approved by Mr Jones in 2000 allowed Zurich Australia to inflate its reported earnings by $61 million while the company was losing money and on the brink of insolvency.

Mr Jones is the sixth former Zurich Australia executive to be disqualified from being a director or senior manager of a general insurer, and the seventh to face punitive actions.

Former Zurich executives Florian Salzgeber, Robert Stevenson, John Butler and Alan Parsonson were disqualified by APRA earlier this year but are appealing to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to overturn the decisions.

APRA ruled Mr Jones was aware that a reinsurance contract with General & Cologne Re Group Australia in 2000 would allow Zurich Australia to post a profit and meet regulatory solvency requirements.

He was found to have knowingly misled the Zurich Australia board and Zurich’s auditors.

The disqualification of Mr Jones is the final chapter in APRA’s investigation into Zurich Australia.