Barclays Mis-selling – Bully caught
A little over two years ago I was employed by Barclays Bank, it was one of the most horrible periods of my life. My former tyrannical manager Dawn, the harassment, and fearful environment I was forced to work within caused this. Barclays had always been a company I aspired to work for, and yet, this one woman destroyed this aspiration, and removed all faith I had in the UK banking system.
Dawn was a bully, and like most bullies, despite many complaints, continued to get away with her behaviour. I would spend my time at work feeling intimidated, terrorized, frightened, and harassed. Ultimately, it affected my health, and despite raising complaints, it was easier to leave Barclays Bank, and remove myself from this oppressive environment.
It would be very easy for me to overwhelm you with tales of woe, situations, and events, that I endured, but I’m not going too as it serves no purpose. However, the root cause of Dawn’s appalling behaviour was sales, and she used all means to achieve success, no matter what the cost to those around her.
And this brings me to the point of this blog post, Dawn has been caught mis-selling, the very thing that she encouraged and required others to do. This is immoral, illegal, insincere, and one that the Financial Service Authority takes very seriously.
The FSA has stipulated through its Principles for Business, and in the context of mis-selling, five statutory foundations are particularly relevant
- A firm must conduct its business with integrity.
- A firm must conduct its business with due skill, care and diligence.
- A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.
- A firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its customers, and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading.
- A firm must take reasonable care to ensure the suitability of its advice and discretionary decisions for any customer who is entitled to rely upon its judgement.
The charge of mis-selling is a serious one. Where a firm has not complied with its regulatory obligations and consumers have been mis-sold, the FSA will rightly be concerned. In appropriate circumstances, the imposition of disciplinary measures helps to maintain market confidence that regulatory standards are being upheld.
So what does this mean to me? Well on a personal level, it does bring some satisfaction knowing that finally Dawn has been caught, removed from the business, an investigation completed, and appropriate disciplinary will be sanctioned.
As a final note from me, I would like to tell Dawn I forgive you for the pain you cause me, and the stress you put me under, but I am not going too. You are not worthy of my forgiveness. I suggest that dawn takes time to apologise too, and seek forgiveness from, the hundreds of customers, she coerced and manipulated over the years. Was that huge bonus really worth it? Looking back I think even she’d agree it wasn’t.
So Sweeeeeeeet to read this post after all you’ve been through Andy. A valuable lesson learned for all here I think.
Plus – I can’t believe its over 2 years already!
My friend and I work for Barclays in the Herts Beds area; I have been with the bank for 6 years and fortunately because of my position do not attract any form of attention from managers. However my friend is a manager and from day one has been bullied by her area director. My friend is well educated and very enthuastic and loves her job and well liked by all her staff and collogues. Yet for this very reason has been singled out by her director who is always critical of her and always finding fault. My friend feels intimated and despite her continued successful performance recognized by her immediate managers is continually under minded by the area director. I can no longer stand by and watch my friend health deteriorate from the constant bullying, she feels frightened terrorized and harassed. My friend recently purchased her own house and car and is afraid if she complains she will lose her job. My friend’s manager recently recorded a conversation where the area director is overheard boasting that she could get rid of anyone she did not like by making their life hell. My collogues tell me that the complaints procedure in Barclays is bias and would not succeed the only possibility is in numbers, so if you have a similar experience with Barclays particularly in the Herts or Beds area please let me know. Your email will be treated in complete confidence and you details will not be released to anyone without your prior permission.
Hi Tina,
I can fully empathize with you, as the same happened to me. I was forced to leave Barclays approximately 3 years ago because of the constant intimidation and harassment. Anyone who works/worked in that area will know who you are talking about, this person has some serious issues and according to some of my ex colleagues her harassment and intimidation of ambitious young females has got worse in the past two years.
Delighted to be the first, keep in touch.
I am too having a similar problem in leeds being bullied by a team leader who has made my life hell. I had enough & complained about the way the team operated, & since then she wants me out! looking at ways to get rid of me she has done it to others & keeps getting away with it.