Undeterred by the scandal that hit the press in Denmark 1 year ago which meant, among other things, the closing down of Sydbank Switzerland (to presumably prevent further reputational damage), Sydbank Denmark’s lawyers in Spain are still convinced their customer did nothing wrong and so, have offered a meagre 40% of the portfolio losses to their victims/customers, leaving out of the base to calculate compensation mortgage payments, costs, legal fees etc.
Naturally, the offer was promptly rejected.
Let’s remember what this bank did during its very short, yet extremely damaging time in Spain, which those lawyers consider to be “acceptable”:
- Opened an office in Fuengirola without letting the Bank of Spain know.
- Offered British customers a perfectly sound and legal Inheritance tax “avoidance” scheme, in partnership with Nykredit, whereby unencumbered properties would be mortgaged with a loan offered by the latter, the proceeds being dispatched to a Swiss account held by a Belize-based offshore company, all of it devised, arranged and managed by the former.
- Used an unregulated IFA based on the Coast.
At the same time, the lawyers:
- Denied having offered an Equity Release Scheme with Nykredit.
- Denied any relationship with Nykredit, alleging that it was the borrower who contacted both, separately.
- Denied having had a contract with any IFA on the Coast, blaming the customers for “hiring” the IFA.
- Confirmed that if Inheritance Tax was the purpose of the contract, it would have been the customer’s motivation and not the bank’s.
- …
- …
- …Denied that the earth was round
persistently excused itself from any wrongdoing by stating that, although they do not confirm nor deny that abundant Equity Release advertising misrepresents the truth, “…ultimately, it was the choice of the consumer to rely on the representations made, or not, having been previously warned that they should seek independent advice.”
