Mr Frydenberg said while corporations were named in the report that did not prevent individual executives from being prosecuted.

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However, Commissioner Kenneth Hayne stopped short of making any radical changes to responsible lending requirements, a decision which should elevate concerns that regular Australians would struggle to get home loans or other types of finance.

Commissioner Hayne in the final report pulled no punches slamming the industry for being driven by greed and the regulators for being soft in their approach to banks, explicitly pointing out that the banks were not “clients” of the regulators.

“The arrangements of the past have allowed conduct of the kinds and extent described here and in the Interim Report of the Commission,” Commissioner Hayne said.

“The damage done by that conduct to individuals and to the overall health and reputation of the financial services industry has been large.”

Commissioner Hayne said saying “sorry” and promising not to do it again had no prevented recurrence.

The financial services industry is too important to the economy of the nation to allow what has happened in the past to continue.

Kenneth Hayne

“The time has come to decide what is to be done in response to what has happened,” he said.

“The financial services industry is too important to the economy of the nation to allow what has happened in the past to continue or to happen again.”

The list of findings from the fifth and sixth rounds of hearings into superannuation and insurance included potential criminal or civil breaches by National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, AMP and IOOF relating to breaches of their duties to act honestly, effectively and fairly, their MySuper requirements and conflicts of interest.

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The insurance industry also copped a caning with CommInsure, TAL, Freedom Insurance, ClearView Allianz, Suncorp and Youi all accused of criminal or civil breaches.

The federal government on Monday released its interim response to the final report saying it would support all of the recommendations in part or in whole.

Ahead of the release of the final report, the opposition also indicated it would support all of Commissioner Hayne’s recommendations.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has begun his press conference at Parliament House by stating the “price paid by our community for this misconduct is immense”.

“There have been broken businesses, and the emotional stress and personal pain has broken lives. In disbelief, the nation has heard evidence of hundreds of millions of dollars in fees for no service, the charging of dead people and the sale knowingly of worthless insurance policies," he said.

“From today, the banking sector must change and change forever. In Commissioner Hayne’s own words: 'There can be no doubt that the primary responsibility for misconduct in the financial services industry lies with the entities concerned and their boards and their senior management'."

Under recommendations for a radical shake-up to the broking industry from the royal commission into financial misconduct, customers would be forced to pay mortgage brokers fees for their services.

Commissioner Hayne said the government should start by banning trail commissions paid on new loans, which he described as “money for nothing”.

“Why should a broker, whose work is complete when the loan is arranged, continue to benefit from the loan for years to come?,” commissioner Hayne said.

Although the government agreed there was a need to “address” conflicted remuneration in broking, it did not commit to implementing all of the commission’s broker recommendations in full.

Commissioner Hayne stopped short of making any radical changes to responsible lending requirements, a decision which should elevate concerns that regular Australians would struggle to get home loans or other types of finance.

Superannuation shake up

Trustees and executives in the $2.8 trillion superannuation sector will be subject to the same oversight as bank chiefs, millions of dollars in fees will be abolished, and workers will only be able to be defaulted into an account once.

The reforms – which have all been agreed to by the Morrison government – are likely to trigger a wave of protest from the sector as the opposition prepares its response to the final recommendations of Commissioner Hayne.

The “default once” change will see super funds starved of millions of new accounts that accrue fees and charges every time a new worker starts employment. It will heap pressure on Labor to resist the lobbying from the industry superannuation funds and back the changes.

Trustees, not just directors or executives, who fail to act in the best interests of their members, would also be liable for civil penalties in a bid to stamp out misconduct in the 14.8 million-member sector.

“It should be concerning to regulators that professional trustees apparently struggle to understand their most fundamental obligation,” Commissioner Hayne said.

“Superannuation can no longer be seen only as a compact between employees and one or more employers. It is important to the whole nation.”

The sector would also be subjected to the Banking Executive Accountability Regime, giving regulators the power to curb bonuses, vet appointments and force funds to map out executive responsibilities.

In a double-blow to the default sector, the commission recommended that MySuper fees for basic advice, estimated to run into the millions of each year, should also be prohibited.

The commission found the hawking of superannuation products should be banned, funds should be prohibited from wining and dining employers at functions and sports events, and trustees should be barred be prohibited from assuming any obligations other than being a trustee of a fund.

The royal commission has called for a ban on “grandfathered” commissions for financial advice, tighter curbs on fees charged by advisers and a new disciplinary regime for the sector.

However, Commissioner Hayne did not support calls for banks and other wealth managers to be owned from owning advice business – a model known as vertical integration.

The government will shortly launch a capability review of the banking regulator the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

Regulators reviewed

The Hayne Commission also recommended new sweeping powers for the regulators of the financial services sector while also urging a radical overhaul of the culture of ASIC.

The final report of the commission has also recommended a regulator of the regulators, urging government to set up a new body that will track and assess the performance of the Australian Securities and Investments commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

After the royal commission asked the question “what happens when we leave people alone in the dark with our money”, Commissioner Hayne has recommended that ASIC be given powers to enforce the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act.

The life insurance industry is also set for a major shake-up after several insurers, particularly major groups CommInsure and TAL, were shown to have allegedly unfairly declined claims by customers using old definitions of unscrupulous tactics.

Commissioner Hayne has also recommended scrapping grandfathered commissions on life insurance products.

The final report recommends that life insurance contracts be included in unfair contract term provisions as described in the ASIC Act to all insurance consequences. Such a move will make it much easier for people with insurance contracts to challenge those contracts if they use dodgy or old definitions of illnesses – a key issue for the royal commission.

The ways big insurance companies hand claims by customers has been recommended to be included as a financial service – a proposal that will send shockwaves through the general insurance industry which has long fought for its products to be treated differently to other financial products.

At the moment there is no oversight of how an insurance company handles a claim made by a customer.