More bank workers come forward with concerns about customer loans

Westpac has rejected claims over its lending and says it has strong credit practices in place. Photo / File

More bank workers have spoken out and alleged that their employers give loans to customers who can't afford them.

Today a Westpac worker revealed pressure on staff to sell products meant loans were being given to people who could not service them.

The bank has strongly rejected the claim and says it has strong credit systems in place to ensure this doesn't happen and the focus for all its employees is to put customers' needs first at all times.

A second woman who also works at Westpac has claimed the bank gives increases to loans or credit cards without carrying out what she believed were the necessary check.

A Westpac spokesman said allegations from the woman about how loans and credit cards were being sold were not correct.

"The claims are wholly inconsistent ... all lending completed by the contact centre is subject to the Westpac credit policy. Any customer requesting a personal loan or mortgage top-up is subject to a thorough assessment of their credit history.

"Applicants are also asked about their current financial position, any expected changes to their financial position, and their continued ability to service their loan."

Another bank staffer who works for a different bank said he left the lending sales side because of his concerns.

"I felt a lot of what I was seeing was unethical and against what was best for the customer."

Since then he said he had heard some shocking stories from some of his bank's internal auditors.

"I have been in proximity to our internal auditors and the stories I have overheard are shocking, loans with 50 per cent of the financed amount as insurance and fees, instances of verification for ability to pay not being sought and cases of vulnerable persons being pressured into loans by sales people."

He said pressure to sell did not just come from incentives.

"It's also being worried about keeping your job, looking good for that next promotion or just not wanting to be bollocksed by the boss."

Bank sales incentives have been under the spotlight since last year when a report was released in Australia called the Sedgwick report, which made 21 recommendations urging banks to change their focus from sales to service by 2020.

New Zealand's major banks, which are Australian-owned, promised they would review the report and look at implementing the changes.

But research, released last month by First Union which represents New Zealand bank workers, found pressure on staff to sell products to the public remained the same or higher than it was a year ago despite promised changes by their employers.

A survey of 600 bank worker members found 87 per cent of respondents felt pressure to sell financial products and 92 per cent felt the same or more pressure to sell financial products than they did a year ago.

A former bank worker who recently left the industry said he had worked at two major banks in the last eight years and the only thing the Sedgwick report did was make the banks reword and hide their intent.