Widow holds Church bank responsible for her losses

A widow who invested €25,000 of her husband’s inheritance in Lehman Brothers’ bonds is holding Church-owned APS Bank responsible for damages she says she suffered when the investment went bust.

Bernardette Cachia, 66, from Fgura, said the damages she suffered were due to the bank’s negligence after she had been encouraged, in 2006, to invest her money in Lehman Brothers and Landsbanki Islands MTN bonds.

In a judicial protest filed against the bank, Ms Cachia complained that she had specifically told the bank that she did not want to invest in high risk bonds.

She said she had made it clear to the bank, which was acting as a broker, that she was not after high interest rates, but in the peace of mind that her investment guaranteed.

She insisted she had been badly advised by the bank and the bonds were now worth only a few thousand euros.

Moreover, she said, the quality of the bonds that had been sold to her were different to the ones she had subscribed to.

Ms Cachia said the bank rarely ever sent her statements and never informed her when her investment was at risk. She held the bank responsible for the considerable losses she had suffered and called for liquidation of the damages.

Lehman Brothers was once one of the world’s most reputable financial institutions before it collapsed in 2008 bringing down with it the world’s financial markets and igniting an economic crisis, the effects of which are still being felt.

Many investors found themselves short-changed with bonds that did not give them the security they thought they had.

Lawyers Josè Herrera and Veronique Dalli signed the protest.