The head of Australia’s peak body representing finance brokers has called for the Australian Banking Association (ABA) to appoint an independent chair to help restore public and industry trust in the banking sector.

The ABA recently announced CEO of the Commonwealth bank Matt Comyn would take the chair, replacing ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott.

However managing director of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia, Peter White, says it’s time to overhaul the big four banks’ rotation system of the chair.

“The royal commission exposed the dishonesty, gross breaches of trust and lack of transparency by the banks.

“Until there is greater governance through independent, non-conflicted eyes, trust in banks will always be questioned due to their commercial self-interest.

Mr White said consumer trust in finance brokers was high, resulting in the majority of mortgages being written through the broker channel, yet “banks are known to be using their branch networks to churn broker portfolios causing clawbacks to brokers”.

“Let’s be real – the royal commission unsuccessfully attempted to make finance brokers the scapegoat while giving banks a stern talking to but effectively doing nothing to change the system.

“While it exposed the misconduct of banks, little changed and the banks are laughing.”

He explained finance brokers work closely with lenders and want a good relationship with all banks, but goodwill has to go two ways.

“Appointing an independent chair of the ABA is a step in the right direction if the banking sector wants to restore confidence and trust.”