Not only Bpm, Mps and Crédit Agricole, all the protests by bankers over commercial pressure
This is how and why the banking unions protest against too much commercial pressure from the top management of banking groups. The article by Emanuela Rossi
It has been discussed for some time and in recent years, in addition to complaints, agreements have also been made within the banking groups and between trade unions and ABI. There is talk of commercial pressures within the banks for which there is also a national bilateral Commission, established in 2017. A problem which, however, according to the trade organizations, despite the greater sensitivity of the top management, has not been resolved and that indeed, in times of pandemic, it shows a certain resurgence.
RECENT APPEALS FROM FABI AND FIRST CISL
The topic is certainly of topical relevance and recently the two major trade unions have talked about it. During the National Executive Committee of 4 March, the secretary general of First CISL, Riccardo Colombani, remarked that "the problem of commercial pressures remains in the foreground", reiterating the importance of the protocol on trade policies and work organization and highlighting it also the substantial non-application. This is why there is a need to "activate a virtuous circuit that promptly brings reports from the groups to the attention of the national commission".
“Commercial pressures in the bank are the cancer of the moment, they are a tumor that must be eradicated. Who works at the counter does not decide, the choices pass to the managers. The financial products on sale are not decided by the directors or by the workers at the counter, but they are part of a policy made by banking groups that want to achieve commercial objectives " said on March 5 Lando Sileoni, general secretary of the largest banking union, Fabi, during an interview with Radio 24 .
Only the day before, Sileoni had signed an article in Milano Finanza in which he expounded the therapy of his trade union organization on the matter. On February 8, 2017, he recalled, the national employment contract introduced a "historic agreement for the banking sector on commercial pressures". Until then, credit institutions "had always refused to come up with a real comparison on objective data, on the behavior of some of their managers and on the damage caused to the customers themselves, as well as all the psychological damage suffered by workers ". "When the ABI of president Antonio Patuelli signed an agreement of this magnitude with the national trade unions – which simultaneously protected bank employees and customers – the main banking groups and their managing directors actually demonstrated that they had changed pace with respect to that gloomy past of a sector that had tragically also experienced episodes of judicial news ”wrote Sileoni. But now "some large banking groups are trying in every way, even subtly, to undermine what was agreed at the national level in February 2017". Like? For example, "tricks have been created with deception that do not allow the anonymity of employee reports with the result that the national commission in ABI – composed of representatives of the union and banks, which should verify the anomalies and then intervene – reports they come with a dropper ”. It is therefore time for these elements to be brought to the attention of the CEOs of banks, of any size, "because their work risks being thwarted and because bank workers and customers risk even more, forced to suffer collateral effects and damage priceless ".
AGRICULTURAL CREDIT
Wanting to take a look at some cases brought to light by the unions, there is the recent appeal by Fabi, First Cisl, Fisac Cgil, Uilca and Unisin in the aftermath of the table with Crédit Agricole on March 9 last. "Despite the emergency underway in recent weeks – the organizations wrote – the commercial functions have continued to give rise to inappropriate and intolerable pressures on the Internet" adding that "we have asked for the immediate suspension of the massive messages addressed to the Internet by part of the commercial functions with which the managers are asked to intensify appointments in the branches with customers. This is an initiative that confirms that the perception of the protracted situation is still seriously underestimated by certain figures and that the appropriate reform of the commercial world for some time professed by the group, summarized in 'Less controls, more support', requires an urgent grounding ".
INTESA SANPAOLO
Also these days is the joint press release of the Intesa Sanpaolo coordination secretariats. “The innumerable weekly meetings (practically often multi-daily) do nothing but subtract precious time from the commercial proposition and the numerous other activities – we read -. And obsessive is the repetition, day after day, always of the same concepts: the application of the method, the daily step regarding the Protection, the volume of net managed flow. It is a pity that it is not realized that the increase in commercial pressures does not lead to greater motivation and involvement of the staff. Indeed, demotivating colleagues who are already exhausted, with consequent and inevitable worsening of commercial results. It has come to the point of demanding that appointments be set on the protection shared, via video conference, with customers, the specialist and the Area Director ”.
Still other examples of the commercial pressures that are exerted between the branches of Ca 'de Sass: “Indeed, it is required that the Manager, the day before the appointment, must share with the Specialist the approach to have with the customer. In many cases, with regard to financial instruments, in addition to the approach setting, explicit and pressing reference is made to the products to be placed before the meeting with the customer ".
The trade unions have no doubts: "We should pay more attention to the precious and difficult to replace 'human capital' and put an end to any form, direct or indirect, frontal or subtle, of commercial pressure, for the purpose of a now necessary calming of the climate of branch. To prevent failure to respect the personal and professional dignity of colleagues, we will report all episodes of which we will become aware through the official channels available ".
MONTEPASCHI
There has also been talk of commercial pressures recently in Siena . In particular, the local trade unions of Fabi, First Cisl, Fisac Cgil, Uilca and Unisin in a note denounced the commercial pressure on workers to "place ancillary products to customers who come to the counters to request guaranteed loans as required by the Liquidity decree" . According to the unions, "in itself this practice would not be a bad thing, if it satisfies the needs of the customer, but since, instead of developing the professionalism and skills of the staff, it tends to mortify them, as is customary in this area. to the needs of customers, yet another report is generated to check that tot disbursements correspond to tot products placed ".
A behavior, they continued, which was explained by the need to "increase cross selling" since the loan gives little margins. But this is a way of doing "absolutely despicable from an ethical and deontological point of view and in our opinion it is configured as a real form of squalid commercial looting, being addressed, in the manner described above, to a category of customers already weakened by the economic crisis that the pandemic is bringing with it ”.
UNICREDIT
On the other hand, a joint press release from the Unicredit coordination secretariats of Fabi, First, Fisac, Uilca, Unisin dates back to 19 July at the end of a discussion with the company. “We have clearly denounced the pressure to sell policies linked to subsidized loans and the problem of switch operations which are not entirely to be considered improper – reads -. We also denounced a generalized drop in attention with respect to the values contained in trade policy agreements. The Company has urged us to always report cases: but, let's say, when there are many cases, when the feeling is common among all the Colleagues and Colleagues, the reports are not enough, it is not enough for the union to act like a dog. guard. It is essential that the Company resume the work of cultural change internally, since without any doubt the situation has generally worsened ".
It should be remembered that on 22 April 2016 a protocol on well-being in the workplace and on commercial policies was signed in Unicredit, basically to put an end to the exasperated commercial pressures among which the following behaviors are highlighted (articles 2, 4 and 5): mistreating collaborators; create a climate of tension or disrespect colleagues and colleagues; expect frequent and useless reports; lobbying to circumvent legal or corporate regulations; Phone calls, emails and out of hours meetings.
On 21 December 2018, an agreement was reached between the company and the trade union and it was clarified that it is forbidden: to disseminate comparative rankings between colleagues and colleagues; ask for advice and sales forecasts less than a week; ask for advice and sales forecasts on individual customers; providing commercial information with excessive frequency and unnecessary repetition. On the occasion, the then CEO, Jean Pierre Mustier, declared: "UniCredit does not accept behaviors that differ from the principles shared in the 2016 protocol (including the additional indications contained in the Minutes / Document of 21 December 2018) and in the 'Joint Declaration' of May 2015, as well as the principles set out in the recent
'Joint declaration on' Work life balance 'signed with the European Works Council ".
BANCO BPM
Last August, finally, a rather explicit joint note from the coordinators of the Banco Bpm group. “We are once again faced with continuous pressure on the placement of individual products, in the old, but unfortunately always current, logic of the 'matrix' – the unions underlined -. Not to mention the continuous reports we receive on the use of tools also prohibited by the bank's internal circular (Retail Commercial Method) such as: rankings, oversized tones, sales forecasts, requests for data, even within the day, easily inferred from the procedures ".
The trade unions have highlighted how "in the Commercial Policies Commission, to anonymous reports from colleagues on individual anomalies or 'heroic' deeds of some overzealous boss, we were able to see that in fact the company intervenes effectively, but this is not enough , because these reports represent only the tip of the iceberg ”. And that's not all: "We also ask ourselves why, in some cases, people who are certainly well-known to everyone, and therefore also to Resource Management, are chosen to fill positions of responsibility, so as not to be scrupulous about using methods certainly not in line with the aforementioned agreements and, if we like, also with the code of ethics that the bank itself has adopted. We will therefore continue to fight for more sustainable workplaces that respect the dignity and professionalism of our colleagues ”.
It must be said that the group, born in 2017 from the merger between Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare di Milano, in recent years has shown a certain sensitivity on the subject: in 2017 the national agreement on commercial policies was signed; in 2018 the Banco Bpm trade union agreement on commercial policies was signed; in 2019 the circular disposing on the correct commercial method was issued and in the same year a specific article was inserted in the national collective labor agreement regarding commercial policies.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/non-solo-credit-agricole-tutte-le-proteste-dei-bancari-per-le-pressioni-commerciali/ on Sun, 21 Mar 2021 15:37:57 +0000.