Any UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales) registered charity is eligible to invest.
Churches and other religious groups are also normally entitled to invest.
If your organisation is not a registered charity but has charitable aims you may be entitled to invest. Please contact us for further advice.
Security of your deposit is of the utmost importance to us. As a result we are very careful in our choice of the banks to which we are prepared to lend money.
We currently only considering lending to a bank if it:
We also ensure that the portfolio of the Deposit Fund is widely diversified, and we set limits on the total amount that may be lent to each bank or banking group by reference to the bank’s credit rating. We also take into consideration whether the bank is an 'Eligible Institution' under the Government's 'Credit Guarantee Scheme'. Although the Deposit Fund’s Scheme Particulars allow in theory up to 20% of the Fund’s monies to be lent to any institution, the maximum amount that we will in practice lend even to a top rated Aaa bank will not exceed 16% of the Fund’s monies, with significantly much lower limits being set for lesser rated banks.
In addition, at least 10% of the Fund’s monies will be available either immediately or within five business days to make certain that depositing charities can always withdraw funds at will.
For a more detailed statement of the Fund’s investment objectives and its lending criteria by which we try to achieve them, please click here
The Fund is not rated by any credit rating agency (e.g. S&P, Moodys, Fitch). The Fund itself is a charity, and as a not-for-profit organisation the additional cost involved in obtaining a rating would have to be passed on to investors in the form of a lower monthly distribution. We believe that the costs to investors of obtaining an official credit rating outweigh the benefit they would receive as a result of having one.
However, our spread of investments by credit rating as at 30 June 2010 was as follows:
| Aaa | 2.3% |
| Aa1 | 4.2% |
| Aa2 | 9.5% |
| Aa3 | 74.2% |
| A1 | 8.7% |
| Total | 100.0% |
of the above, 80.8% of lending was to banks within the Government's Credit Guarantee Scheme.
Epworth Investment Management are specialists in charity and socially responsible investment. They are owned by the Methodist Church of Great Britain. For further details, click here
We require a signed withdrawal form or letter to authorise a transfer. This may be received by post or by fax.
There is no notice period for withdrawing funds. Any withdrawal request received before 10am on any working day will under normal circumstances be processed that same day. Funds are paid by BACS and will take 2 working days to clear into your account. CHAPS transfers are available on request.
The current rate of interest can be seen here.
Interest is accrued daily and paid monthly.
Deposits can be made by post to the Manager. Cheques should be made payable to "HSBC Bank as Trustees of the Affirmative Deposit Fund for Charities" and accompanied by a deposit form.
Deposits can also be made by BACS or CHAPS. Please contact us for further details.
Deposits can also be made at a local bank, free of charge, using an issued paying-in book.
The day we receive your cheque or bank transfer your account is credited and interest accrues.
Statements are issued quarterly. More frequent or on-demand statements can be arranged on request.
Yes, 'ADF Online' is available to account holders providing online access to statement information and enabling secure online withdrawal requests. Existing account holders can login here, or register for the service here
Should you have any further questions about the Affirmative Deposit Fund or Epworth Investment Management please do not hesitate to contact us
