Church appoints Sir Hector Sants to help crusade against payday lenders

The Archbishop of Canterbury previously told the payday lender Wonga that the Church of England wanted to "compete" it out of existence as part of its plans to expand credit unions as an alternative to payday lenders

The task group has been formed by Archbishop Justin Welby, who recently attacked unscrupulous loan companies for their behaviour and was outraged when it was discovered soon after that the Church of England's pension fund had a £75,000 investment in a company which acts as a financial backer for Wonga.

The new task group, which will meet for the first time at the end of January, will develop this ongoing support and encourage responsible lending and saving. It will also work "with the wider financial sector to build support for more competitive and community-based financial services", according to the Church of England.

Sants said:

"Archbishop Justin's work on the Banking Standards Commission, and his determination to follow through by mobilising the Church of England's commitment to the common good and its local presence across the country, is an inspiration to many."

"I am delighted that I am able to support him in this very tangible and exciting project."

The Archbishop said:

"There are few people in today's financial sector who have Sir Hector Sant's breadth and depth of experience and outstanding reputation.

"I am enormously grateful and pleased that he has accepted my invitation to lead the church's imitative to work with the credit unions to help serve all the people of this country better and to contribute to developing a more transparent and competitive system focussed on serving the needs of everyone."