The Finance Sector Union (FSU) is calling for its members to stop pushing products like life insurance and concentrate on customer service.

FSU National Secretary Leon Carter told insuranceNEWS.com.au the banks have been pushing cross-selling of such products as life and general insurance and its members have to reach sales targets to be paid.

“If our members don’t reach X% of their sales target, then they can lose about 25% of their pay,” he said. “It has all become based on volume sales and not what the consumer wants.”

The FSU surveyed 3200 workers in the financial services sector, including insurance companies, and found workers continue to be required for sales rather than service.

It found 88% of those surveyed have 25% of their take-home pay generated by sales targets.

“Out members hate cross-selling and the customer is handcuffed to the banking counter and told about eight or nine products they don’t want,” Mr Carter said.

“We have a massive underinsurance problem, yet the banks just want to talk about sales volumes and not what the customer needs.”

Mr Carter says the problem is not the workforce dealing with customers, but the upper echelons of the banks who hold the employees to ransom on the condition they sell more products.

“Woe betide any employee that doesn’t sell the required number of credit cards, loans or whatever the product of the month is,” he said. “They won’t just miss out on the next pay rise, they might also lose their job.”

The FSU survey found 90% of those surveyed want greater recognition of their professional customer service when measuring performance and 85% would like a better balance between the best interests of customers and corporate profit.

Mr Carter says the FSU is supporting the Federal Government’s proposed ban on volume sales commissions.

“The policy is working in the customer’s best interest,” he said. “Volume commission might not work like ordinary commissions on products, but it is more insidious.”