Naughty, naughty Lloyds bank

It almost doesn’t feel sporting anymore to bash the banks.

Despite their previous status in society and dominant High Street positions, they are consistently incapable of getting anything right when it comes to the provision of financial advice.

The latest bank to spend some time on the financial services naughty step is Lloyds.

This morning they became the (not so) proud recipient of the largest ever regulatory fine for retail conduct failures in the UK.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) slapped the £28m fine on Lloyds Banking Group for “serious failings” related to its sales incentives schemes.

If it wasn’t so serious, the Final Notice accompanying the fine would make for an entertaining read.

Lloyds put its ‘financial advisers’ (there is no advice in banks, just sales) under such pressure to hit sales targets they resorted to flogging products to their own families and colleagues.

In one case, an ‘adviser’ sold himself, his wife and a colleague protection products in order to avoid a demotion.

A sales culture like this is no place to deliver suitable financial advice.

I’m sure many of the individual staff working for Lloyds during this time were striving to do a good job for their customers, attempting to apply the highest standards of advice and ethics.

It sounds as if the management structure, incentive schemes and remuneration structures in place made it close to impossible to do a good job for customers.

Customers of Lloyds TSB, Halifax or Bank of Scotland should take a close look at the financial products they were sold between 1st January 2010 and 31st March 2012 – the time considered by this regulatory investigation – and urgently seek a second opinion to ensure they are suitable.

Don’t go to another bank for this second opinion, unless you want to receive more of the same.

Speak to an independent financial adviser, preferably a firm of Chartered Financial Planners, and pay for professional financial advice and planning.

Please, please stop using banks for financial advice.

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