TSB scrapping staff targets

TSB is to scrap sales targets for staff and withhold information about what is being sold to customers from managers.

The bank, which was formed in 2013 after being spun out of Lloyds Banking Group and is currently subject to a takeover bid from Spanish owned Sabadell, will announce a shake-up of its sales practices in its quarterly results this morning.

It will also reveal the closure of 17 branches. The bank currently has 631 outposts, but those that are to close are less than 500 metres from another TSB branch.

Peter Navin, head of branches, said: ‘This is part of a big project to improve the customer experience in our branches.

‘Clearly if we have a branch where nothing is being sold then we would look at that. As far as the partners are concerned, they will not have to worry about whether they had sold this product or that one.’

The TSB name disappeared from the High Street in 1995 after being taken over by Lloyds Bank. It was formed again in 2013 following a European Commission ruling that forced Lloyds to give up 631 branches.

It floated on the stock exchange last year. Last month the bank agreed to a £1.7bn takeover bid by Spanish bank Sabadell. Today, bosses will provide an update on that takeover but also announce that all sales data has been removed from branches. It means neither branch staff, managers or regional bosses can see which types of product are being sold.

The branch closures come at the same time as many existing ones are being given a facelift as part of a £250m investment in branches and technology.