The Church of England’s investment fund, which pays the pensions of retired clergy, lost about 1.2 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) last year as stock markets tumbled and property values slumped amid the global financial crisis.
The 305-year-old fund, one of the best performing funds of its type over the past decade, lost an estimated 22 percent last year, the Church Commissioners said in an e-mailed statement today. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index lost almost 30 percent, the statement said.
“The impact of the overall financial situation would be much greater had we not taken a range of steps before the full extent of the financial crisis was felt by the markets,” Andrew Brown, secretary of the Church Commissioners, said in the statement.