TALK BACK -- Industry comment on www.theadviser.com.au

Fantastic, the topic has been raised and we can see if [the] banks are quick to dismiss the issue. Should [the] banks dare cut trails they would find themselves facing a backlash; good on you Peter [White, FBAA president] for “putting it out there”! Sal Mazzarino, Ultimate Finance Solutions

We, as brokers, have returned so much business to the majors, and this is how they thank [us]. If we ever needed a reason to support the... second tier lenders and mortgage managers, here it is. Ian Fraser, Fraser Financial Services

Peter White should know better than to make comments like this in the media. It may become a self-fullling prophesy... If everyone thinks that trail will be abolished then the banks’ job is done for them! The banks would pay nothing if they felt that their businesses would not suffer as a result. Any talk of commissions being reduced further should be met with the appropriate degree of hostility. Kurt Armbruster, Carnegie Morgan Hill Finance

Broker commissions will remain under real attack until the non-bank sector grows enough to threaten the banks’ current dominant position – simple as that. Why else do you think [the] banks have been buying up the non-bank sector? It’s called killing off the competition while it is wounded, and before it recovers enough to be an independent threat again. Daniel Thorpe, Mortgage World Australia

Banks will be very short sighted if they stop trail commissions... Trail commissions guarantee they keep the business and will stop brokers rolling over clients every couple of years to gain upfronts, as we know it’s easier to keep a client than find new ones. How much ‘churning’ goes on in countries [that do not] pay trails? John Brown, The Mortgage and Finance Centre

Isn’t it about time that all applications are submitted to all banks on one software application platform managed by MFAA! Brian Taylor, Need A Loan Geraldton

Most brokers need to understand that despite how excellent or lousy an aggregator’s software is, they must develop their business model based on independent software that will move with them when the time comes to change aggregators. And every broker will change at some time - so business models cannot be built upon aggregator software. Glenn Rodricks, Victorian Finance Group