SMALL SAVERS who invested in the failed Presbyterian Mutual Society will receive all their money back nearly three years after its collapse.

The Belfast-based society, which had 10,000 investors and savers and was exclusive to members of the Presbyterian Church, was forced into administration in November 2008 following a run on its funds. Its collapse left some smaller investors and savers, with investments of less than £20,000 (€22,800) in dire financial difficulties.

Many of the society’s small investors are elderly and had committed their life savings to the society. Over the last three years, they have been unable to access their money.

But yesterday the society’s administrator confirmed a rescue scheme could be put in place which could see the first repayments made by early July. The scheme has to be legally sanctioned before any repayments can be made.

The scheme was developed by the administrator, Arthur Boyd, as a vehicle to take advantage of a £225 million financial assistance package put together by the UK Treasury and Northern Ireland Executive to help stricken savers.

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland also intends to contribute £1 million to the scheme. A further £6 million will also be made available from the society’s current investment portfolio,

The scheme required majority support of members and creditors of the failed society.

Mr Boyd revealed yesterday that more than 99 per cent of the society’s members and creditors had voted in favour of the scheme.

Mr Boyd said an appeal by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to individuals and congregations to defer voluntarily an element of the money due to them had met with “a strong response”. A third of creditors agreed to take part in the voluntary deferral.

Creditors will receive 100 pence in the pound less a compulsory deferral of 15 pence.

Because the majority of savers have a combination of share and loan certificates the return to shareholders is based on a sliding scale depending on the size of their total holding in the society.

Mr Boyd said the minimum return will be 77 per cent of their total holding. Under the rescue scheme, supervisors will trade out the society’s assets for up to 10 years, enabling the UK government loan of £175 million to be repaid with interest.

There is no guarantee there will be enough money left to pay deferred amounts to creditors once the scheme is completed.