Finsec media statement
31 August 2007
For immediate release

BNZ’s new sales targets push customers into more debt

The BNZ is proposing to introduce new sales and referral targets that require staff to get more of their customers into debt. The proposed changes will mean that to achieve the same incentive payment as last year staff will need to sell more products, including credit cards, loans and mortgages to customers.

“The proposed changes focus on getting customers into debt. For example staff will need to sell more home lending in order to meet their current targets yet the value attributed to insurance, a produce that protects customers, has been halved,” said Finsec Campaigns Director Andrew Campbell.

“It is time for the BNZ to come clean about its pay system and how it rewards staff for selling customers as many debt products as possible,” said Campbell.

“BNZ staff dislike the target regime at the bank. In a union run survey targets came out as the thing that BNZ staff most wanted to see changed at the bank. Targets have also been identified as the most significant cause of stress for BNZ workers in a survey commissioned by Finsec in 2006,” said Campbell.

“We are calling on the bank to back away from the changes it is proposing to make to targets and urge customers to tell the bank to do the same. Bank staff want a culture of high quality customer service not sales and debt” said Campbell.

ENDS

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