AN ADMINISTRATOR has been appointed to the Presbyterian Mutual Society. Arthur Boyd, of Arthur Boyd Co, said that his appointment at the request of the society’s directors would provide protection for its assets. He said he intended to explore whether the church fund could be rescued.

The Belfast-based organisation, set up 26 years ago to encourage Presbyterians to save through their own church, has nearly 10,000 members.

Last week the church fund was forced to freeze members’ accounts when it could not meet their withdrawal demands. The Northern Ireland Executive passed emergency legislation to try to protect the assets of people who had invested.

The directors of the society, a separate legal entity from the Presbyterian Church, blamed the credit crunch for having a “severe effect on the society’s level of liquid assets”.

The fund’s liquidator said it had become apparent that a number of the society’s members had moved funds to other financial institutions that offered protection under the Government’s guarantee scheme, “leading . . . to an unprecedented run on the society’s cash”.

Mr Boyd said it was too early to say whether members would get their total investment in the society returned or what proportion they might recover. of the funds they had invested.

“The society has considerable assets, but if those assets were sold now it might not produce the best return,” he said.

Mr Boyd was aware that some of the society’s members would suffer hardship because they could not access their savings. But he warned that he was not currently in a position to make repayments.

According to Mr Boyd, the society has assets exceeding £300 million, of which more than £180 million is in loans to members and £130 million is in fixed and other assets.