by Johannes Fiala, lawyer
Money does not belong in the piggy bank: After all, capital should not sleep, but work and increase. But which form of investment is suitable for whom? With the multitude of investment options, the willing investor is quickly overwhelmed, because he lacks the basics to compare and evaluate the offers. In order to achieve the best possible result, the help of a bank advisor is therefore sought. But the recommendations of the banks are not always the most lucrative, as the following case shows. A pharmacist from Northern Germany had an ?A-PLUS? fund recommended to her in 1998 by the A-Bank as a ?safe? investment. Investment of money let recommend. After the consulting discussion with the bank coworker it concerned an ?absolutely safe thing?: Thus it stood also in the folder with the reference to a ?safety-oriented plant? and a ?safety basis? effected by the fund management. ? it should concern a ?share warranty plant? But the joy lasted only up to the year 2002: Because from well 18,000 DM (conditions 05/1998) after four years still 7,517 ? (state 04/2002) became after four years. In arithmetic terms, the safe investment thus generated an average negative return of around 6.5 percent p.a..
Prospectus and advisor liability applies The BGH has repeatedly ruled that the investment advisor must act with the diligence of a prudent businessman (e.g. BGH WM 1986, 1032 et seq.). In addition a so-called prospectus liability comes into question, after in particular the risks of the capital investment were represented from view of the pharmacist obscurely or for it incomprehensibly. The bank advisor could withdraw to the fact that he had a consulting sheet to the hand, which had been signed by the Apothekerin. But even this is only a weak argument for the bank if the investment had been sold to her as ?safe?
Expensive experience Today, the pharmacist knows that an investment in a British life insurance policy would have offered her a real guarantee against capital loss ? unfortunately, the bank advisor at A. Bank did not even present her with this alternative product. In many cases, bank customers no longer use the advice of bank advisors in the course of better clarification, but turn to independent advisors. The change of the credit institute stands likewise in the area, like a complaint against the bank advisor personally as well as the A. Bank. The pharmacist can afford it ? she already had legal expenses insurance in 1998. Her husband, also a pharmacist, comments: ‘Even if the legal expenses insurance does not pay, we want to make the bank liable. It can’t be that apples (safe investment) are promised and then pears (risk investment) are sold without the bank customer noticing anything?