The Presbyterian Mutual Society, also known as Presbyterian Mutual, is a

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

-based mutual society with around 9.500 investors, most of whom are members of the

Presbyterian Church in Ireland The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI; ga, Eaglais Phreispitéireach in Éirinn; Ulster-Scots: ''Prisbytairin Kirk in Airlann'') is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the Republic of Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in ...

. The society has been put into administration after a run on the society in October 2008 when £21 million of its £25 million reserves were withdrawn. Presbyterian Mutual had lent heavily to the commercial property developers and the buy to let sector. The loss of funds was attributed to the fact that commercial banks had their deposits guaranteed, in contrast to the Mutual's unguaranteed status. The then Minister for Employment and Learning, Sir Reg (now Lord) Empey, amongst others, called for the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

to compensate investors. The Treasury subsequently set up a Working Group to consider what action could be taken.

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

talked with Northern Ireland's political leaders on its future on February 12, 2010. In October 2010 George Osborne announced a £200 million payment to compensate savers as part of the

Comprehensive Spending Review A spending review, or occasionally a comprehensive spending review, is a governmental process in the United Kingdom carried out by HM Treasury to set firm expenditure limits and, through public service agreements, define the key improvements that t ...

. The final bill came to £232 million, and the first cheques for repayment were sent on 2 August 2011. Around 10,000 people were affected by the collapse. As of 2021, the Society's administrators (supervisors) declared that they would be unable to secure full repayment of the 175 million pounds due, and so investors with outstanding monies due would not receive them back. All savers who invested less than £20,000 have been more or less fully compensated but those with higher amounts were left with deficits of 15 to 23%.

References

External links

* Friendly societies of the United Kingdom Presbyterian Church in Ireland {{UK-finance-company-stub