A Halifax insider describes how the push to 'sell, sell, sell' continues, despite the regulator's finding that such incentive schemes contributed to recent mis-selling scandals. An employee of Britain's biggest banking group has described a "disheartening and demotivating" sales culture that pressurises staff into selling financial products to customers in order to meet strict points-based daily targets. The man, who did not wish to be named, but we will call David Elliott, works as a financial consultant for Halifax. He says his job chiefly entails trying to sell insurance to customers. "I've been a counter clerk, banking adviser, financial adviser and now I'm a financial consultant – so I've been at every level there is in a retail bank. It gradually gets worse the higher you climb the ladder and now I'm at the highest seller point in banking and the pressure is abnormal," he says.

Sales targets are everywhere, and products translate into points which are added to a branch total, he adds. Loans and home insurance attract the most points, and there are also points for generating new leads from customers. On Friday, Lloyds Group, which owns Halifax, said in its annual report that it was "Reviewing and developing incentives continually to ensure they promote colleagues behaviours that meet customer needs and regulatory expectations".....Read more here