C of E revealed as Wonga investor

Alice Murray
26 July 2013

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Following reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury plans to force Wonga out of business, it has been revealed that the Church of England has invested ТЃ75,000 in the business through its commitment to Accel Partners.

The Church of England's £5bn pension fund has committed around £1m to Accel Partners.

According to reports, Archbishop Wilby is embarrassed about the Wonga investment, which was uncovered by the Financial Times. However, when speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he praised Wonga's professional management and explained that his initial attack against the payday lender was aimed at the industry as a whole, and not the individual company.

Earlier this week, the Archbishop, the Most Rev Justin Wilby, reportedly told Wonga founder and CEO Errol Damelin that the Church of England plans to make credit unions a safer and more attractive alternative to payday lenders. The Archbishop has already launched a new credit union, the Clergy Mutual Credit Union, for clergy and church staff.

Archbishop Wilby, who previously held roles at Société Nationale Elf Aquitaine, Elf UK and Enterprise Oil, told Damelin that the Church will try to compete against Wonga in an attempt to force it "out of existence".

The Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG), which advises Church of England investments, states in its ethical investment policy that it restricts financial support to companies involved in military products and services, pornography, tobacco, gambling, alcoholic drink, human embryonic cloning and, crucially, high interest rate lending.

Archbishop Wilby has now launched an investigation into the church's pension fund investments.