I refer to last Sunday's article, 'High five for fair play guidelines'.

There are to date many reports focusing on how representatives of financial firms have mis-sold products that were unsuitable for clients, but an inherent problem in the industry is that financial institutions are still pushing their representatives to sell investment products.

Monthly or quarterly sales targets are still given to these representatives, and non-performers face increasing pressure, forcing some to resign of their own accord.

Such a practice serves the banks' objectives: First, it helps increase banking revenue in the current financial crisis; second, it is a good way to force some employees to resign, without the negative publicity that comes with retrenching staff.

Perhaps your paper could do a special report on financial institutions that still adopt such high-handed practices in a volatile environment.

Are the senior management in financial firms pushing the middle management to meet unrealistic sales targets?

Such a report will be a great favour to the many bank employees who are currently in a sandwiched position - being pushed for sales by their banks, while having to observe specific Monetary Authority of Singapore guidelines.

Kevin Young

This article was first published in The Straits Times.