A Which? investigation of more than 500 front line bank staff reveals that there is still high pressure to make sales in the big five banks.
65% of bank staff in sales roles and have sales targets say there is now more pressure than ever to meet the goals set for them.
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Which? interviewed branch and call centre staff from five major UK banks – HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Santander.
Nearly 50% of staff in sales know colleagues who have mis-sold products in order to meet their targets and 40% say their targets encourage employees try and get the sale when it’s not appropriate.
Which? chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith, said: "Senior bankers say the culture is changing but this shows it just isn’t filtering through to staff on the front line who remain under real pressure to put sales before service, even after incentives are taken away.
"This proves the need for big change across the industry and for bankers to put customers first, not sales. We’re calling on the banks to be much more transparent about their sales targets and incentives."
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By GlobalDataWhich? also found that customers are feeling the impact of this pressure-selling environment. Over 40% of customers say the last time they contacted their bank they were offered a new product or service that wasn’t suitable. 25% felt pressurised to take it. Over 30% had to refuse a product or service more than once.
This report follows the news in October that the Co-op had banned sales incentives to their staff with CEO Barry Tootell saying sales incentives for bank staff were "wrong".
Tootell said: "Frankly, if your business is about delivering excellent customer service then why would you incentivise selling?
In September, the UK Financial Services Authority launched a crackdown on sales incentives after a year-long investigation. It is investigating Lloyds Banking Group over its practices.
Treasury select committee member Andrea Leadsom said that staff do not respond as well to incentives based on service.
She said: "Metro Bank also incentivises on customer service and it is struggling. The biggest culprit is free in-credit banking which is the biggest misnomer ever and the media has conspired in it."
