INVESTORS IN the stricken Presbyterian Mutual Society have stepped up the momentum in their campaign to persuade the British prime minister to guarantee their savings by securing more than 4,500 signatories for an online petition.

The petition calls on Gordon Brown to provide similar governmental guarantees to UK mutual societies as for banks.

The Presbyterian Mutual Society was a limited company, registered with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in the North, and was not covered by the UK Treasury’s bank guarantee scheme which protects accounts up to £50,000.

The Presbyterian Mutual was not regulated by the UK’s Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) and therefore does not qualify for its compensation scheme which guarantees bank deposits.

As a result of this the UK Treasury has said it is unable to provide any assistance to Presbyterian Mutual’s members which total more than 9,500.

Last November the Presbyterian Mutual Society went into administration because it could no longer meet the demands from its members to withdraw their money.

Investors in the society had rushed to withdraw their money after it emerged that it was not covered by the UK government’s financial guarantee scheme.

The Belfast-based society was started by Presbyterians in 1982 for the benefit of Presbyterians and membership was solely confined to members of the Presbyterian Church. It had assets totalling an estimated £300 million.

However the administrator appointed to the Presbyterian Mutual Society last November, Arthur Boyd, has confirmed that at least £180 million of was tied up in loans to members while a further £130 million was in fixed and other assets.

Mr Boyd has written to the society’s members recommending an “orderly run down” of its business.

In the meantime the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in the North is now exploring a number of potential ways it might be able to help members of the society recover their investments.