RBS to scrap staff bonuses as mis-selling risks continue

The Guardian reports that staff will instead be given a pay rise as compensation. Bonuses for branch staff usually amount to around £2,000.

Last month, Q3 results revealed that while litigation and conduct costs fell significantly - £129 million compared to £780 million in Q3 2014 - future litigation and misconduct costs could be "substantially greater" than expected.

In a statement, RBS said:

"Whilst legacy issues continue to be addressed, material further and incremental costs and provisions in respect of conduct and litigation related matters are expected, and could be substantially greater than the aggregate provisions RBS has recognised."

Recent Which? research found that over a quarter of front-line bank staff still feel under pressure to sell, despite banks scrapping sales targets and the FCA cracking down on poor practice.

It said that while the banks have made changes to reform their sales-culture in recent years, removing individual sales targets is not enough to reduce the risk of mis-selling.

The research found three in ten (28%) sales staff at the big five banking groups still say they sometimes feel they’re expected to sell regardless of whether it’s appropriate, and the same percentage (28%) say they are uncomfortable with their bank’s approach to sales.