Financial expert Michelle Barrett of Credit Claims, has expressed her concerns over the sales culture in UK Banking, despite claims from the banks that they are changing their sales practices.

Commenting in response to a recent report by consumer champions Which, Michelle Barrett said "Despite promises to sort out their ways, it looks like the banks continue to heap pressure on their front line staff to sell, sell, sell"

The Which report claims that half of those surveyed said they knew a colleague who had mis sold a product and 65% said there is now more pressure to sell products than ever before. In particular staff at Halifax and Lloyds TSB, which are all part of the same group, said they were unhappy in their roles because of the pressure from management to achieve sales targets. This, they said, often leads to customers being sold totally inappropriate products.

"How can it be right that in some banks, staff that don't hit sales targets are named and shamed in emails and on noticeboards. That is bound to create a culture of mis-selling. We see so many people who have been mis-sold investments, ppi and mortgages. In particular, those seeking a better return on their savings are often sold risky investment products and can end up losing thousands of pounds" said Michelle Barrett A number of banks have publicly claimed to have changed their procedures to incentivise staff to provide good customer service rather than to sell. COOP and Barclays were amongst the first to act, with the latter announcing back in October 2012 that it was introducing a wholly customer service focussed bonus scheme for all its 18,000 front line sales staff.

"It remains to be seen what comes of the banks promises, the sales culture has been embedded deeply in our banks for the last two decades and it will take time for them to regain the trust of the British public" commented Michelle Barrett.