Comm Bank Defends Deal With Brokers

The nation’s biggest lender has refuted claims it was "economical with the truth" over how mortgage brokers underpin its billions of dollars of home loans, amid accusations in the financial services royal commission of conflicts of interest.

Commonwealth senior executive Daniel Huggins admitted there were failings in the mortgage broker remuneration system but no bank was prepared to be the first to make the necessary moves to clean it up.

Brokers supply up to 50% of mortgages to the nation’s major banks, with many paid various commissions.

Those commissions, which sometimes include payments for the number of loans directed to the CBA, have raised claims of conflicts of interest in the financial system.

The CBA "de-activated" 700 brokers – and counsel assisting the commission, Rowena Orr, said it appeared the deactivated brokers had lost their relationship with the bank for not sending business to the CBA.