Pensioners lost €52,000 after savings put into fund

TWO sisters, aged 82 and 79, lost €52,000 after their bank encouraged them to switch their life savings from a deposit account into a stock market-based investment fund, the ombudsman’s report said yesterday.

The banking troubleshooter found the bank had failed in its duty of care to its customers. The bank should have taken their ages into account and realised that the investment product was too sophisticated and too risky for them, he said. He told the bank to pay €42,500 to the sisters to compensate them. This was on top of the €5,000 sum paid over voluntarily by the bank before the ombudsman reached his decision.

The sisters complained to the ombudsman after they switched their life savings, which had been held in a deposit account for over 20 years, into an investment product that would pay a return based on the performance of stock markets across Europe over three years.