PPI storm bank still telling sales teams to snare more customers

MILLIONS of customers are being targeted by sales-hungry Lloyds staff despite the bank’s appalling record on mis-selling.

Branches are under increased pressure to sell more insurance, loans and investments, secret documents reveal.

Despite racking up a £10billion bill f or mis- selling payment protection i nsurance ( PPI), Britain’s biggest bank has ordered staff to meet increased sales targets or face losing their bonuses – or even their job.

The edict was issued months after Lloyds – which was bailed out by the taxpayer in 2008 – was fined £28million by watchdogs over its ruthless sales culture and ‘champagne’ bonuses.

The order to ramp up sales led

‘Will they never learn?’

one exasperated employee to post a message on the company’s intranet asking: ‘Will this bank never learn?’

The secret move was revealed by a whistleblower who has lifted the lid on the bank’s rapacious methods. The whistleblower, a senior personal banking adviser at a North London branch of Lloyds, says staff fear for their jobs and are mis- selling insurance and investments just to hit their sales targets.

To back up his claims, he has handed internal documents to the Daily Mail showing the latest targets. Lloyds has insisted it has eradicated the sales culture which has blighted so many of its 30million customers.

But managers raised their targets in March, the documents show. They reveal the elaborate points system Lloyds now uses to encourage staff to sell products to customers who walk into a High Street branch.

The system i s skewed to encourage the sale of products which are more profitable for the bank but often riskier or more expensive for the customer. Selling a life insurance policy or a £10,000 loan generates 20 times more points than a cash Isa.

Staff who fail to hit their targets miss out on their bonus – an important incentive to personal banking advisers whose average starting salary is just £19,055.

The whistleblower, who asked not to be identified, said: ‘Staff are being exploited by the bank and we are all under huge pressure.

‘It is difficult to give honest advice to customers.’

The employee came forward after the Mail published a leaked internal email last week which revealed the bank is continuing to pressure staff to mis-sell credit cards, loans and insurance.

In the memo, a manager chastised staff for failing to hit targets. Referring to the number of daily appointments advisers are expected to make, it warns: ‘I’ll give you a clue that 1s, 2s and 3s are simply not acceptable.’

The email emerged in the same week that the bank’s bill for misselling PPI topped £10billion – dwarfing the provisions made by its rivals.

Lloyds insisted the email ‘is in no way representative of behaviour across the group’, adding it had launched an internal investigation and was taking disciplinary action. But the documents passed to the Mail reveal how Lloyds increased its sales targets for staff by more than a quarter in March – three months after the bank was fined for promoting a ruthless sales culture.

But last night a Tory MP said Lloyds’ staff could not absolve

‘Difficult to give honest advice’

themselves from blame. Mark Garnier, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, said: ‘A defence of “I was only obeying my bonus i ncentive scheme” is simply unacceptable.’

Lloyds said i t has ditched straightforward sales targets, and said annual bonuses are based on ‘balanced scorecards’, gauging customer feedback.

A spokesman said: ‘Our key objective is to help our customers manage their money in the best possible way.’