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Church of England ends Wonga investment Church of England ends Wonga investment
(about 3 hours later)
The Church of England has ended its investment in the payday lender Wonga.The Church of England has ended its investment in the payday lender Wonga.
The move ends an embarrassing situation for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who last year pledged to try to put Wonga out of business by helping credit unions compete with it.The move ends an embarrassing situation for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who last year pledged to try to put Wonga out of business by helping credit unions compete with it.
It later emerged that the Church had indirectly invested about £75,000 in Wonga through an investment fund. It later emerged that the Church had indirectly staked about £75,000 in Wonga through an investment fund.
The archbishop reacted by saying he was "embarrassed" and "irritated" by the link.The archbishop reacted by saying he was "embarrassed" and "irritated" by the link.
The Church Commissioners for England, which deals with the Church's investments, announced on Thursday that it had made a number of ethical investment changes, including tightening their investment restrictions for direct investments, and would announce new controls on indirect investments later in the year. 'Common good'
A spokesman added: "We no longer have any financial or any other interest in Wonga." The Church Commissioners for England, which deals with the Church's investments, said on Thursday it was "pleased to announce" the indirect exposure to Wonga as part of its venture capital portfolio had been removed.
"At no time have the commissioners invested directly in Wonga or in other payday lenders," the commissioners' statement said, adding that the indirect exposure was "considerably less than 0.01% of the value of Wonga".
It said the commissioners believed venture capital to be "a good and useful instrument with significant potential to serve the common good", but that a number of "ethical investment changes" had been made.
These included tightening investment restrictions for direct investments, with new controls on indirect investments due to be announced later in the year.
The statement added: "We no longer have any financial or any other interest in Wonga."
Details of the investment emerged in July 2013 shortly after Archbishop Welby said he had "bluntly" told Wonga boss Errol Damelin "we're not in the business of trying to legislate you out of existence; we're trying to compete you out of existence".
The expansion of credit unions would provide an alternative, he had suggested.