(Adds Bank of Valletta statement)

Forty investors this morning filed a judicial protest against Bank of Valletta arguing that the bank had encouraged them to invest their lifetime savings in various securities at high risk when this had not been in their best interest.

The investors said they were not trained in financial matters, some of them did not even receive a formal education, and those who did had a very low standard of education. Most of them were pensioners with their pension being the only source of income. Their investment was from money saved when they still had a job. Most had invested their savings to supplement their pension with an additional income.

The few who were not yet pensioners had invested to raise their capital for an additional income on retirement.

The investors said they had sought Bank of Valletta's advice because of their trust in the bank. Some had even been invited to invest by bank employees.

The investors argued that the bank was conscious of their personal circumstances and it was evident that they were not in a position to take the risk in the investment proposed to them.

They claimed they were encouraged or advised by the bank to invest a substantial part, if not most, of their capital at high risk and in junior subordinated and perpetual securities, including those issued by Barclays, Erster, Hbos, Lehman, Lloyds Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Svensk Export Kredit.

In line with the law and best market practice, these were not the investments suitable to them as investors.

But the bank had led them, through its negligence and professional incompetence, to suffer considerable damages.

At no point did the bank explain the risks of such investments, they claimed.

In a statement this afternoon, Bank of Valletta said that they had not yet been served with this letter.

"The contents of the judicial letter will be carefully studied by BOV together with its legal advisors, and a response thereto will be filed in due course in the appropriate manner," the bank said.