A customer of the Bank of Scotland Ireland is bringing a case to the High Court, accusing the bank of negligence.

The case relates to the customer's 2003 dealings with a lending manager at the bank, who has since left the company.

The customer contacted the bank to arrange a loan for property investment and the bank subsequently agreed to lend him €400,000.

The customer claims that the lending manager then offered to set up a meeting with a property developer to discuss investment possibilities.

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The developer said that if the customer invested €400,000 he could easily double his money within a year.

However, after three years the customer claims he has only been repaid slightly over €70,000, leaving him with a substantial debt to the bank.

It later emerged that the lending manager had links to the property developer, and further investigation into land registry documents revealed they jointly owned property.

The customer is also taking legal action against the developer.

Bank of Scotland Ireland has said that it can only confirm it is facing legal proceedings but cannot comment further.

(VB/JM)