沪江英语 2013-03-18 沪江英语 907次
2013年春季上海中高级口译考试于今日3月17日开考,沪江英语在考后第一时间提供真题、解析、答案信息,本文为2013年3月高级口译阅读真题的下半场第一篇来源。
原文标题: City watchdog blames bonus culture for corrupting bank services
来源选自:guardian.co.uk
The City watchdog has ordered banks to put an end to their bonus culture, in a report that blames staff incentives for corrupting the services they provide and leading to millions of consumers being missold investments and insurance policies.
Many if not all of the recent mis-selling scandals over products including payment protection insurance (PPI), endowments and pensions had come about because of the way companies rewarded sales rather than service, the FSA said.
The watchdog investigated the incentive and bonus schemes at 22 financial firms, and uncovered a range of "serious failings".
It is understood that the worst were at Lloyds Banking Group, which has been referred to the FSA's enforcement division. This could result in the group, which is 40% owned by the government, facing a fine of billions of pounds. Lloyds has already set aside more than £3.5bn to cover compensation payments.
Martin Wheatley, the FSA's managing director, said banks used to be a place "where you would go in, stand in a queue and have a pleasant chat with the clerk", but some time ago financial institutions had changed their view of consumers "from someone to serve to someone to sell to".
The FSA has ordered firms to drop such sales tactics in favour of schemes that put the customer first, and said bank bosses should "take a real interest in fixing this". If firms failed to comply, the watchdog said, it was prepared to introduce new rules cracking down on bonus schemes that prioritise sales.
"What we found is not pretty," Wheatley said. "Most of the incentive schemes we looked at were likely to drive people to mis-sell in order to meet targets and receive a bonus, and these risks were not being properly managed."
He said he had ruled out getting rid of incentive schemes altogether, but banks would be expected to properly consider whether their incentive schemes increased the risk of mis-selling.
"I want to draw a line in the sand and use the report we are publishing today to set out our expectations," he said. "CEO's are ultimately accountable for the way their staff are incentivised, so we expect them to take a real interest in fixing this."
Where a recurring problem was identified, banks would be expected to investigate, take action and pay compensation, the FSA said. In the past, incidents of misselling have often been left to the watchdog and consumer bodies to identify and act upon.
Firms have until the end of October to submit their views on the guidance, and Wheatley said he expected them to start to clean up their act immediately.
Lloyds would not confirm whether it had been referred to the FSA's enforcement division, but said in a statement that it had made "significant changes" to its incentive schemes since the beginning of the year. It said it had been " working closely with [the FSA], keeping them updated on our progress and to ensure the changes we have made to the schemes are appropriate."
Richard Lloyd, the Which? executive director, said that the FSA's findings supported his organisation's view that most banks had incentive schemes that prioritised sales.
"This must change. It is clear that the light touch regulation of the past has not worked. We want to see the FSA rigorously enforcing the rules and taking tough action against those banks that continue to let their customers down," he said.
Figures released by the banks last week showed that customer complaints soared in the first half of this year, due to increasing numbers of cases relating to the mis-selling of PPI. Lloyds received around 860,000 complaints in the first six months, a 145% increase on a year ago. Complaints to NatWest doubled year-on-year, while those to Barclays rose by 80%.
3月7日,十四届全国人大二次会议在北京梅地亚中心新闻发布厅举行记者会。中共中央政治局委员、外交部长王毅就中国外交政策和对外关系相关问题回答中外记者提问。
新华网&CGTN 2024-03-07 15:18:50
收藏资讯
根据会议议程,国务院总理李强代表国务院向大会作政府工作报告。报告共分三个部分:一、2023年工作回顾;二、2024年经济社会发展总体要求和政策取向;三、2024年政府工作任务。
新华网&CGTN 2024-03-05 20:56:56
收藏资讯
2023年是全面贯彻落实中共二十大精神的开局之年。以习近平同志为核心的中共中央团结带领全党全国各族人民,坚持稳中求进工作总基调,接续奋斗、砥砺前行,坚决克服内外困难,全面深化改革开放,新冠疫情防控平稳转段,高质量发展扎实推进,科技创新实现新突破,安全发展基础巩固夯实,民生保障有力有效,经济社会发展主要预期目标圆满完成,社会大局保持稳定,全面建设社会主义现代化国家迈出坚实步伐,极大增强了全国各族人民信心和底气。
新华网&CGTN 2024-03-05 18:18:43
收藏资讯
女士们、先生们,各位媒体朋友们,下午好!现在举行全国政协十四届二次会议新闻发布会。我们今天的发言人是全国政协十四届二次会议副秘书长兼新闻发言人刘结一先生。我是全国政协十四届二次会议副秘书长邹加怡,今天的新闻发布会由我来主持。坐在左边的这位是全国政协办公厅新闻局局长周北川先生,他会协助我点请记者朋友提问。下面,先请刘结一先生介绍全国政协十四届二次会议的总体安排,之后请媒体朋友们提问。
新华网&CGTN 2024-03-05 18:05:30
收藏资讯