The Australian Bankers Association (ABA) says the Senate's blocking of amendments to financial advice laws has made life more complicated for banks and customers.

The major banks had led the campaign for the Federal Government to roll back parts of Labor's Future of Financial Advice laws (FOFA).

ABA chief executive Steven Munchenburg said the Senate's move had created a legal minefield.

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"If a customer wants to switch banks, it could be a lot more complicated," Mr Munchenburg said.

"The reason for that is they have to deal with a number of different people in the bank over different products, just because of some technical flaws in the legislation that unfortunately has been shot down in the Senate," he said.

The Financial Planning Association's chief executive, Mark Rantall, also slammed the block and said it was inappropriate.

"Overnight, this vote has put every financial planner in Australia just about in breach of the law," Mr Rantall said.

"That is no way to run legislation and regulation. Totally inappropriate, we need time to assess this and comply."

Yesterday, four senators including Nick Xenophon, Jacqui Lambie and Ricky Muir teamed together to defeat the law changes.

"Despite our political differences, we have banded together as a coalition of common sense," Senator Xenophon said.

"Our common, unequivocal objective is to have the Government's FOFA regulations disallowed today in the Senate because they are unambiguously bad for consumers."

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the Government remains committed to the reforms and had until midway through next year to regain enough crossbench support to reverse the decision.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten described the Government as "bad losers" for continuing to push changes to the laws, despite the defeat.

"This is a humiliating defeat for a Government who continues to try and sneak past bad laws, watering down the protections for people seeking financial advice," Mr Shorten said.