The total amount that taxpayers will pay to help investors in a failed finance company may not be known for several months.
Mascot Finance is the first company needing to be covered by the Government's deposit guarantee scheme, which was introduced in October last year. It went into receivership on Monday.
Mascot owes investors $70 million but it's unlikely the Government will pick up the whole bill.
Receivers now have to work out how much will be retrieved from those that owe Mascot money.
Wellington investment advisor Chris Lee has worked with Mascot and expects the final amount will be much smaller.
He believes the worse case scenario will be $10 million.
