Yahoo – AFP,
11 July 2014
London (AFP) - The Church of England has sold an indirect investment in payday lender Wonga, severing an embarrassing tie with the firm it accused of exploiting the poor.
The
Archbishop of Cantebury Justin Welby speaks during a press conference
in Juba,
South Sudan, on January 30, 2014 (AFP Photo/Carl de Souza)
|
London (AFP) - The Church of England has sold an indirect investment in payday lender Wonga, severing an embarrassing tie with the firm it accused of exploiting the poor.
Last year
it emerged that the Church's financial arm had indirectly backed the company
through pooled funds, shortly after Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
criticised Wonga and other high-interest lenders.
"The
Church Commissioners no longer have any financial or any other interest in
Wonga," the Church's financial arm said in a statement.
"The
terms ensure that the Church Commissioners have not made any profit from their
investment exposure to Wonga."
The Church
Commissioners for England had strengthened restrictions to ensure there were no
ethical problems with investments, the statement said.
Wonga lends
to people in dire need of cash, charging a typical annual interest rate of
nearly six thousand percent.
It was last
month forced to pay £2.6 million in compensation after it emerged it had sent
thousands of fake legal letters to pressure customers to repay loans.
Welby
launched a public attack on payday lenders in July 2013, claiming they exploit
the poor and vulnerable. He said the Church aimed to put Wonga out of business
by supporting credit unions to compete with it.
However
only a day later it emerged that the Church Commissioners had an indirect
investment in Wonga, despite having named payday lenders on a list of
prohibited investments.
The Church
said the stake amounted to less than £100,000.
"At no
time have the Commissioners invested directly in Wonga or in other pay day
lenders," the Commissioners said.
"The
indirect exposure of the Commissioners through pooled funds represented
considerably less than 0.01 percent of the value of Wonga.
"The
Commissioners are pleased that another way forward has been agreed given their
fiduciary duties to clergy pensioners and to all the parts of the Church they
support financially."
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