Two senior foreign-based Hannover Re managers face disqualification from operating in Australia due to their involvement with the collapse of HIH Insurance.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) issued “show cause” notices in 2005 to Jürgen Gräber and Henning Ludolphs, asking them to show why the regulator should not take action and have them disqualified.

However, the two managers took their fight to the High Court and insisted on being anonymous. Hence the case was conducted with the two named as X and Y, and their employer as Z.

In his finding on the case, Justice Michael Kirby said the attempt at anonymity had an air of unreality because their names were not suppressed during the HIH Royal Commission in 2002.

The judgement was released last Wednesday and the confidentiality order on their names expired on the same day.

The court ruled that APRA’s “show cause” notice and reference to evidence given in the HIH Royal Commission did not breach the Royal Commissions Act.

APRA spokesman Stuart Snell told Sunrise Exchange News the regulator is satisfied with the outcome of the court decision but the matter is continuing.

Mr Snell says the two managers have not been disqualified, but there are still two additional matters that will be heard. “The process is continuing in the Federal Court now.”

Mr Gräber is on the executive board of Hannover Re and Mr Ludolphs manages Hannover’s Dublin-based subsidiary Advanced Solutions, which specialises in financial reinsurance.