NI Presbyterian mutual society, Short of funds for withdrawal?

ballyblack

NEWS LETTER


PMS savers ‘to back £200m rescue plan’


Published on Thursday 5 May 2011 22:30

MEMBERS of the collapsed Presbyterian Mutual Society are understood to have voted in favour of a rescue package which includes £200m of government loans to the society.

Feedback is also suggesting there is hope that those with less than £20,000 saved could receive all of their money back.

Today marks the last day of members’ formal voting for the arrangement for the £300m mutual, which suffered a run in 2008 and went into administration.

The Treasury Select Committee later found its 9,500 members were “innocent victims” of “a fatal regulatory gap” by government.

Former Presbyterian moderator Rev Stafford Carson said yesterday: “Overall there has been a very favourable response expressed to the scheme of arrangement and I would be hopeful it will receive a positive outcome.”

He said he had also been “encouraged” by the response to a formal appeal to larger savers to defer removing all their money, in order to give smaller savers a 100 per cent return.

Members have until 5pm today to support or reject the package, made up of £200m loans from government, a £25m contribution from the Treasury and £1m from the Presbyterian Church. If approved this will return all members at least 77 per cent of their funds and smaller savers up to 100 per cent.

The £200m loans are to be repaid with interest to government over 10 years as the PMS property portfolio recovers. If the plan is rejected, the PMS assets will be liquidated and returns would be expected to be significantly less.

It is understood that a considerable number of votes have been returned already and feedback from eight clarification meetings around the province is that a significant majority of creditors and members are expected to have voted in favour of the rescue package.

Votes will be counted and audited over the next few days and the PMS administrator will notify members of the result in a week. Assuming no legal challenge, the courts are expected to sanction the arrangement and members would then expect cheques in early July.

A series of eight closed meetings have taken place in recent weeks to which all PMS members were invited.

PMS administrator Arthur Boyd and Rev Stafford Carson took questions about the fine workings of the deal.

It is understood there was a small level of dissent at each meeting from some savers complaining that they were not getting all their savings back, in light of the failure of government regulation.

While some critics of the rescue plan say the taxpayer should not assist a Presbyterian association, several PMS directors now face legal proceedings, in part for providing services to non-Presbyterians.

Orra

The PMS debacle is moving slowly but moving to an excellent end for most. Those with a large sum are being hit and we must think of them sympathetically.
Not however our betrayers McCandless and Goode who recently lobbied Minister Foster to bring back the hardship fund when it looked as if the Executive wouldn't agree to the plan. Just their chance to maximise their return. What a pair of greedy sods!!:rotfl:

BETRAYED

Orra wrote: »

The PMS debacle is moving slowly but moving to an excellent end for most. Those with a large sum are being hit and we must think of them sympathetically.
Not however our betrayers McCandless and Goode who recently lobbied Minister Foster to bring back the hardship fund when it looked as if the Executive wouldn't agree to the plan. Just their chance to maximise their return. What a pair of greedy sods!!:rotfl:

I can assure you that McCandless and Goode have worked as hard as anyone to get this mess sorted.
They have not been acting as agents for PCI as others have.
Please give credit where credit is due.

Grrrandad

Hopefully we will not have long to wait for the 'declaration' on our vote and any change to the initial distribution quotes - we must assume that all votes registered were being counted as they were received and it would basically be a matter of adding on any stragglers.

Andrew10

This is my first post the forum, although I have looked at it occasionally, its almost dead one post every couple of days and no one seems to properly challenge statements made just dismiss them. The complaint to the Ombudsman? Did these people ask Foster to bring in the hardship fund? Who was working as an agent of the PCI? The latter sounds like a figment of someone's imagination.
Well done Grrrandad something constructive.

Grrrandad

From Newsletter 06/05/11

Votes will be counted and audited over the next few days and the PMS administrator will notify members of the result in a week.

Has anyone heard if above timescale for announcement of result will be met? I find it hard to believe that someone,somewhere, hasn't heard a wee whisper.

Come on Mr Boyd I think we have all been very patient!!

Lion44

I recall reading that it would take 7 days for counting the votes. We should hear soon.

goodbyepci

http://www.staffordcarson.com/

D.A.

Particular thanks are due to members of the Northern Ireland Executive and especially to the former DETI Minister, Arlene Foster, and her officials for putting the details of the package together.

Hang on - aren't those the exact same people whose complete incompetence allowed the whole thing to develop unnoticed in the first place?

PCI.U.O.Me

D.A. wrote: »

Hang on - aren't those the exact same people whose complete incompetence allowed the whole thing to develop unnoticed in the first place?

Couldn't have put it better myself!