Many in the bush consider him a hero. In Canberra, he's called a maverick in polite circles — but, more often, a loose cannon.

However, for those in banking, and particularly insurance, Katter's Australian Party MP Bob Katter has now earned himself a special sobriquet — one that probably is best not repeated here.

During an impassioned plea to royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne in Brisbane last Tuesday, a hatless Mr Katter demanded to know whether there would be an investigation into why so many in the bush had been treated so shabbily by our financial institutions and how the system could be improved.

His interruption to proceedings initially earned the stern gaze and imperious tone of a royal commissioner with his hackles raised.

For those in banking, Bob Katter has now earned himself a special sobriquet. ( AAP Image: Mick Tsikas )

But then the mood suddenly shifted. Mr Katter, interrupting again, was uncharacteristically humble.

"Mr Commissioner, I'm not being critical in any way," he said.

Mr Hayne paused for several seconds, gathered his thoughts and quietly explained that, while the public hearings were examining events through the lens of particular case studies, a great deal of work was going on behind the scenes.

"Now, I understand your concern," the commissioner continued.

"Mr Katter, you're not the only one who's concerned. There's a lot of people out there concerned and … I know that."

As he completed that sentence, the last thing he said before declaring a break, Mr Hayne let down his guard. The emotion, ever so briefly, shone through.

When he returned from lunch, he was adamant.

Farmers were to get an extended hearing for the rest of the week in Brisbane and possibly even into this week in Darwin.

Perhaps it was a nod to farmers who, via the National Party, had secured the inquiry.

Bob Katter was flanked by a group of aggrieved farmers outside the commission hearings. ( ABC News: Liz Pickering )

No claim, no blame

Fist pumps, high fives, a collective sigh of relief.

Insurance executives couldn't believe their luck. They had been preparing for the worst from the Brisbane hearings.

Now, their day in the spotlight was to be postponed, squeezed into the sixth round in September, just before the Royal Commission's interim report.

The thinking was there'd be no time at all for a decent round of interrogation.

Then the doubts began to surface — could this be the forerunner to an extension for the royal commission?

While Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has signalled he would be open to an extension of the inquiry — placed on an unrealistically short time leash — Mr Hayne is no ordinary lawyer.

As a former High Court judge, he knows he needs grounds to justify such a request. And Mr Katter may well have provided him with exactly what he requires.

If the royal commission is extended, it is the insurance industry that will be subject to its withering scrutiny.

Little wonder the banks are desperately looking to slim down, to sell their insurance and financial services divisions.

Insurance scams in the spotlight

It may have taken five years, but last week, the corporate regulator sprang into action. Once again, the target was AMP.

Instead of financial planning, however, the focus this time was insurance.

According to the charges, for at least two years until 2013, AMP knew its financial planners were churning clients on insurance, pushing them out of one insurance product and into others on everything from life insurance to income protection and disability.

Why? Fees, of course. Pushing clients out a perfectly acceptable policy and into others that may have been inappropriate or offering cover they would never need delivered far greater commissions.

Rather than simply have them transfer policies, they instead were cancelled and new ones were written.

For most of the past decade, since the financial crisis exposed the overcharging and corruption at the heart of the financial planning and wealth management industry, its practitioners have attracted the ire of clients and the scrutiny of government.

Inquiries such as the Cooper Inquiry and overhauls such as the Future of Financial Advice legislation attempted to bring the industry to heel.

The most egregious practice was in the manner in which planners earned their money — through commissions.

Given, until a few years ago, there was no stipulation that financial planners had to act in the best interest of clients, they sold hapless investors products that delivered them the biggest commission.

Insurance, however, was largely overlooked — odd given the wealth management business largely grew out of insurance.

It since has become a verdant field to plough for financial planners looking to reap the harvest they once enjoyed through the sale of investment products.

The great insurance racket

Former AMP chairman Catherine Brenner was brought undone by an "independent" report into overcharging by financial planners, prepared by law firm Clayton Utz for the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

Essentially a deep dive to uncover the extent of the malfeasance, the report that was ultimately delivered to ASIC had been meddled with and changed on multiple occasions at the behest of the board and on at least one occasion, the chairman herself.

In recent months, insurance groups across the country have engaged law firms and investigators to deliver similar reports.

Knowing they are under scrutiny, and given the requests for information sent through by the royal commission, no-one relishes the prospect of being ambushed by senior counsel assisting Rowena Orr.

Then again, no-one wants those reports to be given a public airing.

Having seen the damage wreaked by senior counsel Brian Salter's decision to deliver AMP's report to the royal commission, the rest of the insurance industry is mindful of the damage — not to mention the prospect of class actions — their internal investigations could cause if they ever became public.

Tragic details of life insurance claims denied, years of car insurance add-ons to those who could least afford it, disaster insurance sold to home-owners whose properties were deemed ineligible, income protection for unemployed, and funeral insurance claims that could never be discovered. The list goes on.

Behind much of it are the big four banks and AMP, the once venerable life insurance giant.

Most have seen the writing on the wall.

The Commonwealth Bank sold its insurance arm last September for $3.8 billion, long before last week's decision to cast off its mortgage broking, funds management and financial planning assets.

Australian banking is in the midst of a radical overhaul — the biggest since deregulation in the 1980s, as the main players scramble to avoid the gaze of the royal commission. Contrition has become the financial fashion du jour.

But it may be to no avail and Mr Katter may have just ensured a good deal more scrutiny than expected.