Here to help? Bank staff reveal the truth about working for Britain’s big banks

Since the financial crisis in 2008, banking and the behaviour of bankers has never been far from the headlines. From bailed-out banks, to rate rigging and mis-selling, a series of scandals has rocked consumer confidence. Just one in 10 consumers think bankers work in customers’ best interests. 

The industry claims it has cleaned up its act, but our evidence suggests a strong sales culture pervades the working life of branch and call centre staff. Time will be needed for the changes made to have full effect but 65% of frontline bank staff who have sales targets still say there is more pressure than ever to meet them. 

A number of banks have removed or reduced financial incentives for sales, but often our investigation shows the sales culture remains even after incentives have been taken away. For many (81%) the pressure to meet targets has stayed the same or increased in the past year, even though 42% say the availability of incentives has decreased. 

It would appear that even the £13 billion cost of the biggest mis-selling scandal in history, payment protection insurance, hasn’t led to widespread changes in banking culture. Nearly half of those who have a responsibility to sell say they sometimes feel they’re expected to do so whether or not it’s right for the consumer. 

We also found evidence of a culture where team and personal sales are regularly discussed in front of other colleagues, and four in 10 of those who have targets have ‘power hours’ where they have to make a certain number of sales within a designated period of time.