Lloyds drops ‘high pressure’ sales tactics after backlash

LLOYDS has ditched controversial targets following claims it pushed staff to use high-pressure tactics to sell products to customers.

The bank required staff to sell every financial product – from insurance to wealth management – at least once a month or face action.

Lloyds insisted the so-called minimum competency targets were aimed at making sure staff were fully trained and able to meet customers’ needs. But some employees claimed they were being bullied into forcing unwanted sales onto families and pensioners.

The cause was taken up by Lloyds Trade Union, which raised its concerns with the City watchdog. After a long campaign, the bank has abandoned the targets.

LTU said members were concerned the targets were ‘driving the wrong kinds of behaviours’.

The union said its plans to meet Andrew Bailey, new head of the Financial Conduct Authority, had forced senior management into a ‘humiliating U-turn’.

Lloyds has long faced allegations of pushing products on customers – whether they need them or not. It scrapped quarterly sales targets in 2013 following an FCA warning that many mis-selling scandals such as PPI had come about due to flawed incentives. But LTU said the recently-abolished scheme was an attempt to reintroduce sharp practices by the back door.

‘By forcing staff to push particular products in order to avoid the performance improvement process, the bank is putting customers at risk of getting products they don’t need,’ it said. ‘Staff don’t want to do it, but what choice do they have? We are not aware of any other bank that uses minimum competency standards.’

An LTU survey of branch managers yesterday revealed worries about a lack of workers. Last month, the bank said it would accelerate costcutting by axing 200 branches and 3,000 roles. This is on top of another 9,000 job cuts and 200 branch closures in the pipeline.

Lloyds said it does not recognise LTU and the union survey was unrepresentative. The bank said 88pc of respondents to its own survey felt customers’ interests came first. Lloyds said: ‘We regularly review our approach to assessing minimum competency levels across the bank.’

Lloyds shares closed up 2.9pc, or 1.68p, at 59.27p.