Jeff Morris is the whistleblower who can take much of the credit for today's announcement of a royal commission into the banking industry.

It was his actions in exposing corrupt practices at the Commonwealth Bank that led first to a parliamentary inquiry and now finally to the royal commission.

But Mr Morris has paid an enormous personal price for his actions, including threats against his life and effectively losing his job.

"It had a horrific impact on my family. My wife was never in favour of me doing what I did and it's hard to argue with her, really, when you look back at what happened," he said.

"I guess part of what I've learned is the determination that nobody should have to go through what I've gone through as a whistleblower ever again."

Sorry, this video has expired Malcolm Turnbull announces a royal commission into the banking sector.

In 2008, Mr Morris began work as a financial planner at the CBA in Sydney. Very soon he found evidence of corruption going "all the way to the top".

"Corruption was absolutely rife. There were crooked plans stitching up literally widows and orphans, and there was a crooked management team covering it up," he told the ABC.

In one case, two retirees had seen a CBA financial planner, but half a million dollars of their retirement portfolio had been "vaporised".

"They couldn't get any straight answers out of the planner. They couldn't get any straight answers out of his manager at the CBA. And the people who were meant to deal with this complaint were trying to fob them off," Mr Morris said.

"That was when I realised the bank was going to do this to all these people. And as individuals they wouldn't stand a chance, unless someone on the inside did something about the cover-up that was going on."

Mr Morris was one of three 'ferrets' who blew the whistle on a rogue financial planner at the bank.

They sent a fax to the financial regulator, ASIC, with a series of accusations. But he says ASIC was "useless", and did nothing for years.

Eventually he felt he had no choice but to leave the bank and go public with the allegations, first in the media and eventually before a parliamentary inquiry.

He told the inquiry he had learned of a threat to shoot him.

He says alongside the royal commission, the Government must strengthen legislative protection for whistleblowers.

"I'm concerned that when the Government says they're going to tackle whistleblower reform, they'll put some legislation in place but it won't be the real deal. It won't be as tough as it should be," he said.

"I've had a lot of people come to me for advice. I've told them what to expect and they say, 'Well I've got a family, I can't do that'."

From the beginning, Mr Morris has called for a royal commission. He says despite longstanding opposition from within government, there is a groundswell for reform.

"It's a good feeling. It's taken far too long of course, but I've always been confident that we'd get here," he said.

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