Barclays adds insult to injury over life savings

By Nicole Blackmore
Updated: 19:09 EST, 13 April 2010

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People who have seen their life savings decimated because of poor advice from Barclays are being forced to wait up to three months to get their remaining money back.

Last year it emerged Barclays had advised hundreds of elderly, cautious clients to move their savings from low-risk cash accounts to high-risk stock market funds.

But the value of the funds plummeted and investors lost up to 40 pc of their capital.

Savings mistake: The value of the funds suggested by Barclays plummeted and investors lost up to 40% of their capital

Now scores of investors attempting to rescue their battered savings are fighting against a string of administration blunders by Barclays.

Bernard Lyster, of Chislehurst, Kent, who has severe dyslexia, was advised by a Barclays salesperson to invest £80,000 in the high- risk Aviva Global Balanced Income fund in 2007.

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By the end of last year Mr lyster ' s investment had plummeted to £53,142.

Mr Lyster, 67, applied to switch his remaining cash to investment platform Cofunds on December 10, 2009.

Barclays transferred part of his holding in December, but Mr Lyster was forced to chase Barclays repeatedly to complete the transfer, which was not in fact finalised until March 3.

He says: 'This is all the money I have. It makes me mad to think how much they lost and how long they have taken to transfer it.'

A Barclays spokesman said: 'These appear to be individual instances where our performance has fallen short of our normal operational standards.'