The Presbyterian Mutual Society, also known as Presbyterian Mutual, is a Belfast-based mutual society with around 9.500 investors, most of whom are members of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. [1]
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put into administration after a run on the society in October 2008 when £21 million of its £25 million reserves were withdrawn. [2] Presbyterian Mutual had lent heavily to the commercial property developers and the buy to let sector. [3] The loss of funds was attributed to the fact that commercial banks had their deposits guaranteed, in contrast to the Mutual's unguaranteed status. [4] The then Minister for Employment and Learning, Sir Reg (now Lord) Empey, amongst others, called for the Treasury to compensate investors. The Treasury subsequently set up a Working Group to consider what action could be taken. [5]
Gordon Brown talked with Northern Ireland's political leaders on its future on February 12, 2010. [6]
In October 2010 George Osborne announced a £200 million payment to compensate savers as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. [7] The final bill came to £232 million, and the first cheques for repayment were sent on 2 August 2011. [8] 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%. [9]
Iris Robinson is a former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician in Northern Ireland. She is married to Peter Robinson, who was First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2008 to 2016.
Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in 1997, when it floated on the London Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol NRK.
The Co-operative Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank based in Manchester, England. Established as a bank for co-operators and co-operatives following the principles of the Rochdale Pioneers, the business evolved in the 20th century into a mid-sized British high street bank, operating throughout the UK mainland. Transactions took place at cash desks in Co-op stores until the 1960s, when the bank set up a small network of branches that grew from 6 to a high of 160; in 2023 it had 50 branches.
The Abbey National Building Society was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Abbey Road and the National building societies.
The Trustee Savings Bank (TSB) was a British financial institution that operated between 1810 and 1995 when it was merged with Lloyds Bank. Trustee savings banks originated to accept savings deposits from those with moderate means. Their shares were not traded on the stock market but, unlike mutually held building societies, depositors had no voting rights; nor did they have the power to direct the financial and managerial goals of the organisation. Directors were appointed as trustees on a voluntary basis. The first trustee savings bank was established by Rev. Henry Duncan of Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire for his poorest parishioners in 1810, with its sole purpose being to serve the local people in the community. Between 1970 and 1985, the various trustee savings banks in the United Kingdom were amalgamated into a single institution named TSB Group plc, which was floated on the London Stock Exchange. In 1995, the TSB merged with Lloyds Bank to form Lloyds TSB, at that point the largest bank in the UK by market share and the second-largest by market capitalisation.
Anglo Irish Bank was an Irish bank headquartered in Dublin from 1964 to 2011. It began to wind down after nationalisation in 2009. In July 2011 Anglo Irish merged with the Irish Nationwide Building Society, forming a new company named the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. Michael Noonan, the Minister for Finance stated that the name change was important in order to remove "the negative international references associated with the appalling failings of both institutions and their previous managements".
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 the public can expect from these resources.
Ulster Bank is a large retail bank, and one of the traditional Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group was subdivided into two separate legal entities: National Westminster Bank Plc, trading as Ulster Bank ; and, until April 2023, Ulster Bank Ireland DAC. Prior to the closure of Ulster Bank in the Republic of Ireland in April 2023, the headquarters of Ulster Bank in the Republic of Ireland were located on George's Quay, Dublin, whilst the headquarters of Ulster Bank Northern Ireland are in Donegall Square East, Belfast, and it maintains a large sector of the financial services in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four commercial banks in the Republic of Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of general insurance products such as home, travel and car. It offers life assurance and pensions through its tied agency with Irish Life Assurance plc.
The Equitable Life Assurance Society, founded in 1762, is a life insurance company in the United Kingdom. The world's oldest mutual insurer, it pioneered age-based premiums based on mortality rate, laying "the framework for scientific insurance practice and development" and "the basis of modern life assurance upon which all life assurance schemes were subsequently based". After closing to new business in 2000, parts of the business were sold off and the remainder of the company became a subsidiary of Utmost Life and Pensions in January 2020.
Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey,, best known as Reg Empey, is a Northern Irish politician who served as the acting First Minister of Northern Ireland in 2001. He was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010 and served as chairman of the party from 2012 to 2019. Empey was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2011.
A vulture fund is a hedge fund, private-equity fund or distressed debt fund, that invests in debt considered to be very weak or in default, known as distressed securities. Investors in the fund profit by buying debt at a discounted price on a secondary market and then using numerous methods to subsequently sell the debt for a larger amount than the purchasing price. Debtors include companies, countries, and individuals.
KiwiSaver is a New Zealand savings scheme which has been operating since 2 July 2007. Participants can normally access their KiwiSaver funds only after the age of 65, but can withdraw them earlier in certain limited circumstances, for example if undergoing significant financial hardship or to use a deposit for a first home.
The Icesave dispute was a diplomatic dispute among Iceland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom which began after the privately owned Icelandic bank Landsbanki was placed in receivership on 7 October 2008. As Landsbanki was one of three systemically important financial institutions in Iceland to go bankrupt within a few days, the Icelandic Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund had no remaining funds to make good on deposit guarantees to foreign Landsbanki depositors who held savings in the Icesave branch of the bank.
Williams & Glyn's Bank Limited was established in London in 1970, when the Royal Bank of Scotland merged its two subsidiaries in England and Wales, Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd. and Glyn, Mills & Co. In 1985, Williams & Glyn's was fully absorbed into the Royal Bank of Scotland and ceased to trade separately.
In the period September 2007 to December 2009, during the Global Financial Crisis, the UK government intervened financially to support the UK banking sector, and four UK banks in particular.
In 2008 the Northern Rock bank was nationalised by the British government, due to financial problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis. In 2010 the bank was split into two parts to aid the eventual sale of the bank back to the private sector.
The 2010 Icelandic loan guarantees referendum, also known as the Icesave referendum, was held in Iceland on 6 March 2010.
The Loans to Ireland Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act allows HM Treasury to loan up to £3,250 million to Ireland, as part of an €85 billion European Union bailout package. The final disbursement of the loan was made on 26 September 2013. The final repayment of the loan by Ireland was made, on schedule, on 26 March 2021.
Credit unions in the United Kingdom were first established in the 1960s. Credit unions are member-owned financial cooperatives operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit and other financial services to their members.