Lloyds risks returning to bad sales practices
Lloyds whisteblowers are said to have told reporters that some of the old-style sale tactics, which led to reckless lending, are returning to the bank, after the bank suffered a slowdown in branch sales. The bank's chief finance officer, George Culmer, reportedly said that some of the "old ways of working, like league tables, naming and shaming and micro-management" could find their way back into the business. This comes in contrast to rival bank RBS, and its retail bank NatWest, which have said that they will completely remove targets attached to bonuses for branch staff, and will instead give them all a 5% pay rise.

Whistleblowers working in Lloyds branches across the country have contacted This is Money in the last week stating sales pressure is growing once more at the bank.

According to an email - sent anonymously to Lloyds Trade Union and seen by This is Money - one local director is said to be a bully who gets a 'power trip out of terrifying and upsetting people' and that 'everyone is scared to say anything to him.'

The email – sent by a concerned staff member – also reveals that old tactics appear to be creeping back into the branches this local director looks after.

Old ways? A number of whistleblowers have contacted This is Money in the past week to outline concerns over sales pressure and tactics from local directors

This includes telesales calls in the evening targeting customers, naming and shaming staff who do not get enough referrals and using unofficial trackers to monitor staff.

The staff member signs off by saying: 'Please, please do something to help us in this group before even more of us are absent to stress.'

One of the whistleblowers points to a case reported on by This is Money last year, in which a local director was blasted by bosses for using similar bullying tactics.

Owen Woodley, the then managing director, said it was unacceptable and asked any unhappy staff members to call its anonymous whistleblowing line with any concerns. He added that the local director would be ‘punished’ for their actions.

However, it transpires that this member of staff has since returned to work, at the same grade and in the same job, suggesting that complaining about these unscrupulous local directors appears to be a fruitless exercise.

At the start of the year, then head of retail banking Alison Brittain, brought in new targets based on customer satisfaction, rather than sales of certain products.

In the LTU newsletter, it says that even if Lloyds wanted to go back to the 'old world' it wouldn't be able to because of regulation by the City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority.

In November 2013, it was fined £28million by the city watchdog for its failings.

But the LTU reports that chief finance officer George Culmer allegedly said that some of the 'old ways of working – like league tables, naming and shaming and micro-management' could find their way back into the business.

Alison Brittain: Brought in new targets based on customer service in January - in May, she was poached by Whitbread to become its chief executive

Elsewhere, a whistleblower adds that he is once again under pressure to target high-net worth individuals. These are customers earning more than £100,000 or who have at least £100,000 in savings.

He says these customers can be expected to be contacted several times over the year in hope they will agree to an appointment and use its wealth portfolio services.

He adds: 'What particularly disgusts me is the way the bank put this group of customers ahead of the other 98 per cent of its customer base.

'Who has the right to judge if these people's needs are more important than the needs of those who do not have large amounts of savings?'

Another whistleblower says that one bank manager has decided to start performance management if a minimum standard is not achieved for one month – despite the bank's standard being three months.

This process can ultimately lead to the sack if standards aren't met.

The whisteblower adds: 'Greed and sales are coming right back into focus in Lloyds bank, only through the back door.

CONCERNED STAFF MEMBER? Do you currently work in Lloyds - or another bank - and are concerned about sales practices? Or do you work for another financial services firm and want to report unscrupulous behaviour? Contact: lee.boyce@thisismoney.co.uk

'We know them as "minimum standards". But trust me - they are targets. And how an individual performs against these is the only real factor how that individual is rated in their appraisal at year end.

'The bank will say otherwise, but trust me, it's a fallacy. The result of this appraisal is linked to pay rises.

'So you can see that the bank is totally ignoring what the FCA have decreed and are still linking sales performance to financial incentives through the back door - with the financial incentives not being bonuses this time, but pay rises.'

Both whistleblowers say the bank is seriously concerned with the drop in product sales seen this year, since sales targets were replaced with customer service ones.

A Lloyds spokesman said: 'In January 2015 we made changes to break the link between product sales and the variable pay that colleagues receive along with performance management processes.

'Since then there have been, and remain, no product sales targets at an individual or branch level, no league tables and no link from any sales to an individual's variable pay.

'We will not return to sales points and league tables which remain a feature of the past. We are wholly focused on helping our customers.'

The Lloyds spokesman adds that the group has a large number of staff and that the whistleblowers only represent a small portion.

Lloyds recently reported that quarterly profits fell eight per cent on the year to £2billion.