WASHINGTON–It isn’t just Wells Fargo’s front-line employees who are stepping forward with stories of overwhelming pressure to meet sales targets set for them: employees from other banks are saying they are being similarly pressured by upper management to meet aggressive goals.
"Wells Fargo is not the exception (with its) absurd sales culture," one former manager of two large regional banks told CNNMoney.com.
Those comments come at the same time Thomas Curry, who heads the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, told the Senate last week that "banks are under enormous margin pressure. That could be a bad environment."
Another former banker, requesting anonymity, told CNNMoney.com, "The customers wouldn't even know. Wells Fargo isn't the only one. This is an industry-wide problem."
The ex-banker said he witnessed employees rearranging debit charges on customer accounts to maximize the size of the overdraft fees they experienced.
"The competition and pressure in the banking industry is unbelievable," he said.
CNNMoney reported that all of the individuals interviewed for its coverage had to pursue similar aggressive sales goals pushed by senior management.
"We get badgered every single day by management. It's sad," a 30-year banking veteran who is a branch manager for a big regional bank told CNNMoney.
Another banker told the publication, "There is a blurred line between what's best for the customer and what's best for our sales goals."
CNNMoney noted the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers, published a report in June detailing how banks' aggressive sales metrics encourage "front-line workers to push multiple banking 'solutions’" on often "unwitting customers."
The report quoted tellers, bankers and other employees from various banks, including SunTrust and Bank of America.