Treasury group to probe bank incentives
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The Treasury-led Retail Financial Services Forum will investigate how staff targets and incentives within banks lead to poor outcomes for consumers.
The forum is made up of representatives from financial services, consumer groups, regulators and Government to champion retail consumers’ interests and help to restore confidence in financial services.
According to the Budget, published this week, the forum will set up a working group to engage with banks, mutuals, consumer groups, employees and trade unions. It will seek opinions on any detriment suffered by consumers and how the situation can be reformed and will report its findings to the Treasury ahead of the pre-Budget report.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber says: “The impact of staff incentive targets on customers and employees has long been a concern for union members in banking. We welcome this new group and that unions will have a say on reforms.”
Which? policy adviser Dominic Lindley welcomes the move, saying sales incentives within banks are the root causes of detriment to consumers. He adds: “Many people have said in our Future of Banking Commission sessions that they dislike the sales-based culture within banks, which is influenced by sales targets or commissions.”
Syndaxi Chartered Financial Planners managing director Robert Reid says: “Any incentive scheme should have a mixture of measurements that would include customer satisfaction, complaint ratios and the level of business actually transacted.”
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