Banks’ self-serving flogging of products to customers should be canned by the Hayne royal commission and they should be broken up, a conference has heard.

Nick Sherry, who was superannuation minister from 2007-09 in the Rudd government, said revelations at the banking royal commission showed that many of the superannuation trustees for big banks were not working in the best interests of members in the funds.

Former superannuation minister Nick Sherry. Credit:Erin Jonasson

“What I find a little startling is the culture of many who participate in this sector who believe it is appropriate to maximise the clip-the-ticket fee approach. Is that consistent with the fiduciary duties for a trustee?” Mr Sherry asked the Maurice Blackburn Corporate Conduct and Class Action Symposium in Sydney on Monday.

“I despair that we still have trustees in my view failing to exercise their fiduciary duties; we still have advisers that are not advisers, they are product-floggers.