Church of England admits purchasing backer of payday loan provider

Church of England admits purchasing backer of payday loan provider

By Reuters Staff

LONDON (Reuters) – The Church of England confirmed on Thursday that its retirement investment invests in Accel Partners, the U.S.-based investment capital company that led fundraising in 2009 for Wonga, a lender that is payday.

The Financial occasions paper reported the investment per day after Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stated that the church would seek to push lenders that are payday such as for instance Wonga, away from business by establishing its very own credit unions. Payday loan providers have now been criticized for trapping borrowers in a period of financial obligation.

“We will likely be asking the Assets Committee regarding the Church Commissioners to investigate just just just just how it has taken place and also to review the holding in this pooled investment vehicle,” a spokesperson for Lambeth Palace, the state residence associated with the archbishop of Canterbury, stated in a statement that is emailed.

“We may also be asking for the Church Commissioners to investigate whether you will find just about any inconsistencies as usually all investment policies are evaluated because of the Ethical Investment Advisory Group.”

Welby, who has got led the church since March, is among leading experts of organizations like Wonga and Provident Financial, which typically offer hard-up families with loans as high as 1,000 pounds become paid back if they get regular or monthly wages.

The archbishop stated he’d met aided by the leader of Wonga, Errol Damelin, and told him, “We’re perhaps perhaps perhaps not in the commercial when trying to legislate you away from presence, we’re wanting to compete you away from existence”, based on a job interview into the August problem of Total Politics mag. Fortsätt läsa