Viaduct Capital calls in the receivers

Viaduct, which owes $7.8 million to about 110 investors, says only $500,000 of new money came in after the Treasury pulled its security blanket on April 20, 2009 and isn't backed up by the government guarantee, according to the firm's website.

The finance company fell foul of the government last year when the Treasury asserted it failed to comply with rules on related-party lending and general business conduct by not undertaking due diligence on loans from Hunter Capital Group.

Hunter's Paul Bublitz lent cash to Viaduct's shareholder, Phoenix Finance Holdings, after he had been engaged to source lending opportunities for the finance company. When the guarantee was stripped, the firm held about $14 million of deposits.  

Since then, Viaduct's chief executive Nick Wevers quit the firm, and Bruce McKay and Richard Blackwood took over the management. Hunter's Bublitz is in the process of taking full control of Mutual Finance, another minnow finance company.