ex-HSBC employee reveals high pressure sales culture
Share
A former employee of HSBC has revealed that the sales culture within her branch was so bad she was forced to move jobs into the bank’s head office.
During Which?’s Future of Banking Commission in London yesterday, the consumer group put forward a panel of consumers forward to give their opinion of the banking industry.
Gill Kirk, a former HSBC employee for 30 years worked for both a branch and the head office of the bank. She left a decade ago and says the sales culture which existed then was so bad she decided to move from her branch job to avoid the sales-orientated culture.
She said: “I think the financial expertise of the branch employees is not as good as it used to be - the emphasis is on selling rather than on financial expertise, they just have to sell and have targets to meet.”
This was the second Commission hearing and was chaired by Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden David Davis and included Treasury select committee chariman John McFall and LibDem Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable.
Commission panel member former Schroders group managing director Philip Auger wanted to know if Kirk had been pushed into sales and wanted to know about the branch staff’s incentives to sell financial products.
Kirk said: “It became more that you had to sell, and that’s not what I wanted to do so I did a course and moved into the head office as I didn’t want to sell.
“We were incentivised - we had targets to meet and if we met them we got points and prizes. The more you sold, the more prizes you got - we got Hoovers, cameras things like that.”
Capital Economics chief economist Roger Bootle asked Kirk if her bank had ever recognised it was wrong in pushing sales. She said no.
She said: “You had to sell, whether it was for the customer or not. You’d like to think that if you knew the customer you could sell them the right product but some people didn’t do that because they were trying to reach a target and they sold whatever they could.”
A HSBC spokesman says: “HSBC is well known for its quality level of service and its commitment to treat customers fairly. The sales initiative that Mrs Kirk refers to was phased out by Midland Bank in the late 1980’s.”
If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Money Marketing and Follow @_moneymarketing
View results 10 per page | 20 per page | 50 per page |
Readers' comments (51)
Anonymous | 26 Feb 2010 4:47 pm
We all know this is nothing new. All banks do this and there are no FSA checks on the sales process which rewards what amounts to a pyramid selling culture that goes all the way to the top, why? Because all the paperwork satisfies the regulator which believes anything the banks sell is 'better than nothing'.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 26 Feb 2010 4:48 pm
Don't be fooled into thinking anything has changed at all in the banks. They are still targeted to sell and meet targets, with the prizes now cash bonuses or just keeping their job. Nothing has changed - in fact they are getting worse. They rubbish good quality advisers, simply to try to sell the latest product, they don't understand personal taxation rules and what's more they don't care who they sell too as long as they get a sale. They hide intial costs and are not around long enough to develop a client relationship as they either move on and upwards or move out. It's not only HSBC but all the banks and building socities. How come it has taken this long for the policitians to "discover " what has been going on - answers on a postcard !!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 26 Feb 2010 4:51 pm
Banks are still doing it i used to work RBS & Natwest Group for 6yrs everything is still target orientated they have changed one bit
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 26 Feb 2010 4:51 pm
Is this supposed to be some kind of revelation, surely everyone knows the banks are like this. I worked in a couple of banks, Abbey and HBOS, but they are all the same. You have to hit stupidly high sales targets otherwise you are made to feel like an idiot. The high earners in the banks would sell anything to anyone to earn a bonus. The ones who have any morals end up leaving. I could not sleep at nights due to the pressure I was put under and was paid c£20,000 per annum. They should all be banned from selling investments to the public as people that come in to the branches tend to be less financially able.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Ollie Clokie | 26 Feb 2010 4:52 pm
Sales in financial services? Good grief, whatever next? I heard the pope is thinking of adopting catholicism... and there is a rumour around these parts that one of the bears might not like porcelain bathroom furnishings, preferring to opt for the woods. There are people in undiscovered tribes, who have never sipped a Coca Cola or munched on a luke-warm McDonalds, but they know that the financial services industry is all about sales.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 26 Feb 2010 4:52 pm
Phased out in the 80's? We all recognise the sales culture still exists in banking - I left 2 banks after receiving threats of disciplinaries if I didn't a) sell certain products and b) hit commission targets. Apalling.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Justin Marlin | 26 Feb 2010 4:52 pm
Her first comments are very true. Working for one of the other 'Big Banks' - I left due to unrealistic sales tatgets and many of the staff threatened with 'Action Contracts' and 'Written Warnings'. The worst time of my life was working in Retail Banking... Would not wish it on anybody!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
elaine birch | 26 Feb 2010 4:56 pm
This should not be a surprise to anyone. I reguarly warn clients to be prepared for the keen attention of their bank when they deposit large sums. I am of the opinion that people coming into a lot of money should take time to consider their options and often advise them to leave money in cash whilst they get used to the money and learn about their options (act in haste repent at leisure). The problem is that the banks are all over the client like flys on the proverbial turd and this can pressurise the client into taking the wrong action (usually to buy a Bond with 7% commission).
Now we have proof from the inside but I doubt that will cause the banks to change their behaviour or the FSA to get tough.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
NJH | 26 Feb 2010 4:58 pm
I doubt very much that the 'hard sell' mentality of some high street financial names ceased in the late 1980's. The 'hard' may have been watered down a bit, but the sell without true regard to the clients circumstances remains. My mother who is 83 visted her local bank a couple of months ago and the young bank counter clerk tried to sell her a high interest savings account. Mother was interested until the girl told her that my mother had to pay at least £1,000 into it each month on a regular basis. My mother responded to the girl that she was on a State Pension and did not have £1,000 per month income, let alone £1,000 spare each month to put into a high rate account like that. The girl totally ignored her response and asked her if she would like to proceed!!!
I personally would have no confidence in high street banking financial services. They are not financial planners, they are I believe product sellers - and often tied to specific providers, so certainly not 'whole of market' or independent.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 26 Feb 2010 4:59 pm
This is not news unless you have been living in isolation for the last 10 years. The problems of poor advice and mediocre products are endemic in the banking sector. The FSA must know. How can they not unless they are asleep on the job.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment