LA VALL D'UIXO, Spain (AP) — When Felix Valls followed his bank manager's advice and invested his entire savings in the bank's stocks, he did it without thinking.

It was a simple question of loyalty.

After all, how could he doubt the local bank that opened an account for him just after he was born in 1935 with a gift of 5 pesetas, a small fortune in those days, as a sign of respect to his parents, who were life-long customers? Now the 77-year-old Valls feels betrayed as he finds himself locked out of his hard-earned money.

"I don't understand what's going on," he said. "The only thing I want is for them to return what is mine."

His plight is shared by thousands of his fellow townspeople and nearly a million across Spain: Lured by the family-like ties nurtured between bankers and customers, they poured their life's savings into higher-yielding financial instruments recommended by the people managing their money. When boom turned to catastrophic bust, they found the stock they had acquired had become all but worthless.

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2012/12/16/spanish-savers-fall-victim-to-friendly-bankers