LONDON, July 26 (UPI) -- The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said "it's very embarrassing" that the Church of England indirectly invested in the online lender Wonga.
Welby told the BBC he wanted the church's investment rules to be reviewed following the revelation.
The church indirectly invested $115,000 in Wonga, a so-called payday lender, out of its total investments of $8.4 billion, Welby said.
"It shouldn't happen, it's very embarrassing, but these things do happen and we have to find out why and make sure it doesn't happen again," Welby told the BBC.
After the archbishop's comments were reported, journalists looked into the church's investments and discovered links between the two entities.
The church's pension fund, which is supposed to ban firms involved in payday lending -- short-term loans, often at high interest rates -- had invested in Accel Partners, a company that led Wonga fundraising in 2009.
The church's Ethical Investment Advisory Group advises against investment in companies that make 25 percent of their money or more from high-interest-rate lenders.
Welby said the 25 percent cutoff is too high and he will ask the advisory group to review it.
