The largest bank in Australia, Commonwealth (CBA), wants loan income so badly, they’re raising customer service employees’ sales quotas and telling them to hard-sell banking customers.

Financial products meeting the CBA quota include higher credit card limits, new credit cards, mortgages, personal loans, and other forms of debt. Each type of loan sold earns the customer service employee a certain number of quota points. As part of the drive, CBA has increased each employee’s quota from 44.5 to 49 points per week—an increase of 10%.

The new sales drive came to light through internal CBA documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph. The documents show that customer service employees earn 40 quota points through selling a mortgage to a banking client. Insurance products earn five points, a new credit card nets three, and raising a client’s credit limit, previously worth no points, now earns one.

The Australian economy is still recovering from one of the worst global financial crises in modern history. Interest rates are clearly set to rise sharply over the next few quarters, affecting variable rates such as those for credit cards and most mortgages, and households have recently shown indications of shying away from carrying additional debt, with credit card and other loan repayments outpacing new loans. The most recent statistics available show Australians carry 12.6 million credit cards with outstanding balances totalling $916 million.

Customer service personnel are unhappy with the new quotas. Not because they necessarily object to selling banking products—but because the new quotas are the same across all of Australia.

“Having a one-size-fits-all target, whether you’re in Woy Woy or Double Bay, is ridiculous,” said Geoff Derrick, Finance Services Union representative.

Employees have reported CBA’s new policy to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, a regulatory watchdog, complaining that it’s impossible to sell the same number of loans across various regional demographics. They also object to hard-selling new and possibly too much debt in poorer regions of the nation.

CBA agreed they had changed the weights assigned to different banking products, but denied the raised quotas meant customer service employees were responsible for more or higher loan sales. A CBA representative said, “The bank will continue to set fair and reasonable targets for staff and will liaise individually with them where they have specific concerns regarding individual circumstances.”

Source: http://www.news.com.au