And you thought house termites were bad . . .

Forget 'em. Termites in a bank offer whole new realms of horror!

From the BBC we learn the sorry tale of Dwarika Prasad from the state of Bihar in India.

A trader in the Indian state of Bihar has lost his life savings after termites infesting his bank's safe deposit boxes ate them up.

Dwarika Prasad had deposited currency notes and investment papers worth hundreds of thousands of rupees in a bank safe in the state capital Patna.

. . .

"I'm shattered. I do not know what to do as I had kept the money for my old age," Mr Prasad said.

. . .

[Bank manager] Mr Saha says the customer cannot blame the bank because he did not find his locker broken or damaged.

"The bank is not liable for the deposits kept inside the safe as it is only when a locker is found broken that the bank is answerable," he said.

That's just great! Not only has the poor man lost his money, but the bank denies responsibility or liability for being termite-infested! I wonder how many lawsuits that would produce in the USA?

I'd heard rumors that the banking system was on shaky foundations, but I always assumed they meant the financial variety. Now I'm not so sure . . .

Peter