A 77 year old man scaled the front of the UBS bank headquarters in London yesterday, prompting the police to come to the scene and force him down.

Around 3pm a group of pensioners held a protest outside the UBS building on Sun Street – opposite the #occupyLSX ‘bank of ideas’ building – against the notorious Shared Appreciation Mortgage (SAM) schemes.

The SAM schemes were aggressively marketed to thousands of pensioners and have left many stranded in unsuitable homes.

Brian tried to scale the UBS building as far as he could. He told passerbys: “Having worked for a lifetime we have literally had the rug snatched from under our feet.”

In 2009 the Telegraph explained:

Under the original agreements, borrowers were lent the money to buy property at the 0pc interest rate as long as when the owner came to sell the property they repaid 75pc of the appreciation.

In the example of the average UK property, this would mean a pay back of £68,500 plus the original 25pc borrowed. This would leave the home owner with only £70,370 to buy their next home, a tall order, even in today’s deflated market.

UBS was one of the biggest backers of SAMs and reaped massive profits from the deals.

The pensioner was not arrested and was released by police when he promised not to climb back up the building.

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

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2. Kevin Dykes

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11. Link Loving 28.11.11 « Casper ter Kuile

    [...] Pensioner scales UBS bank building in protest. Liberal Conspiracy. [...]