The new administrators of collapsed steelmaker Arrium have kept chief executive Andrew Roberts and his top executives in place despite huge animosity toward them from the big Australian banks owed almost $1 billion.

KordaMentha's Mark Mentha told Fairfax Media that Mr Roberts was still working in the company along with the main executive team from Arrium because it was crucial in gaining good information flow about the business and the previous attempts to try and stabilise it, before the company went into administration.