UK archbishop ’embarrassed’ by church’s links to payday loan firm

LONDON – The archbishop of Canterbury says the Church of England will examine indirect links to a payday loan firm he had criticized.

Archbishop Justin Welby told Britain’s Total Politics magazine in an issue published this week that the church was ready to compete with payday lenders in hopes of putting them out of business.

He claims the firms, who offer small, short-term loans at sky-high interest rates, prey on the most vulnerable in society.

The Financial Times revealed today that church funds were invested in Accel Partners, an American venture capital firm that led payday lender Wonga’s 2009 fundraising.

Welby told the BBC that the world was complex and that he was embarrassed by the revelations.

But he says he remains committed to helping support alternatives to the lenders.

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