Church of England sets up $120m fund after slavery apology

The Most Reverend Justin Welby has apologised for the links to slavery

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The Church of England says it will spend £100m ($121.6m) over the next nine years on "communities affected by historic slavery".

The announcement comes after the Archbishop of Canterbury apologised last year, following research which showed that the Church of England's investment fund had links to the slave trade.

The £100m would be in a new investment fund that would hopefully "grow over time, reinvesting returns to enable it to have a positive legacy that will exist in perpetuity", the Church of England said in its latest statement.

Last June, it said an investigation, initiated by the Church Commissioners, a charity managing the Church's investment portfolio, revealed that for more than 100 years the fund invested large sums of money in a company responsible for transporting slaves.

The fund, known in the 18th Century as Queen Anne's Bounty, had developed into a £10.1bn investment trust.

The Most Reverend Justin Welby said he was "deeply sorry for the links".

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