Union blasts NAB sales culture
The Finance Sector Union has claimed vindication for its complaints on banking sales culture, following evidence given by a senior National Australia Bank (NAB) executive to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance industry.
The executive, Anthony Waldron, told the Royal Commission that sales targets, remuneration structures and excessive pressure from managers on staff were the root cause of the problems with Australia’s banking system.
Waldron told the inquiry that the risk and reward equation was “unbalanced in the favour of sales”, and revealed some bankers would abuse the system to ensure the outcome would “generate greater income for them” rather than aid the customer.
Finance Sector Union of Australia national secretary, Julia Angrisano, said bank workers in branches and call centres across the industry were pressured and bullied on a daily basis to achieve these unrealistic sales target.
In his questioning, Waldron was asked how much of his salary depended on sales targets being met, and how much pressure was applied to staff by senior management to achieve sales targets.
“Nothing was more telling today than when asked if the root cause of this misconduct was NABs own remuneration structure, Mr Walrdron could only reply ‘yes’,” said Angrisano.
Recommended for you
Government has introduced a bill to Parliament to legislate the first stream of the QAR reforms.
ASIC now has a 1:1 ratio when it comes to court success in the enforcement of crypto activities and more action is expected as Treasury seeks to introduce a regulatory framework.
A leading governance body has hit out at “specialist interest groups proposing ad hoc law reform” when it comes to reforms of financial services legislation and believes an independent body is needed.
The release of ALRC’s final report into financial services legislation has highlighted financial advice as a “significant” focus as it seeks to reduce costs and help advisers understand their obligations, alongside the Quality of Advice Review.
