In an interview between Straits Times and DBS Chairman Mr. Koh Boon Hwee, "We’ve taken a hit but we will overcome" dated 12 Nov 2008 Straits Times wrote “… Neither is he supportive of a nationwide crackdown on relationship managers and sales targets in banks that some have blamed for hard-sell on the ground. 'I think selling is something that happens in all businesses. There is not going to be an easy substitute for having quotas for salespeople for any kind of product, whether you sell computers or automobiles,'”

What is the impact for people? Here are my thoughts:

• The bank’s primary business is still on sales and meeting sales target;
• Financial planning takes a backseat (second priority);
• Financial planning requires various tools to implement – sometimes it involves financial products sometimes it does not;
• It is easy to confuse buying products with financial planning;
• Moving forward, people will still buy unsuitable products in the future since the bank’s priority is sales of financial products – not financial planning itself;
• A financial product is unsuitable when there is no financial plan;
• Financial planning is not free as time and effort is required to put it in place;