If I’m reading the portents right – and I think I am – Monday will mark the end of Australian banking and finance as we currently know it. Multiple inquiries have been held in recent decades into our financial system, from Campbell to Wallis to Murray. But this time it's different. Illustration: Dionne Gain Credit: This time, the work has been painstakingly conducted by a team of lawyers, who would appear to have less interest in securing cushy finance sector jobs and more interest in proving the scalpel-like power of their forensic minds, by getting quickly and directly to the beating heart of the root causes of the myriad sensational instances of misconduct revealed during the commission's 68 days of public hearings. If you don’t expect them to come up with radical proposals to fix the system, you haven’t been paying attention.

Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Getting a mortgage will be different. Getting financial advice will be different. It's likely that many financial planners and mortgage brokers will lose their livelihoods. Bankers will lose their bonuses. Returns to bank shareholders – including you and me, through our super – will be curtailed, at least in the short term.

Loading But the power and fury about to be unleashed by Kenneth Hayne on Australia's banking system will be a much-needed cleansing power. Because the cost of inaction – of leaving things as they are – is potentially even worse for shareholders. Banks have already shelled out $7.4 billion to make up for their poor behaviour, according to an estimate by Shaw and Partner’s banking analyst Brett Le Mesurier. Shareholder returns have been drained by $3.2 billion to refund customers who received poor advice, no advice, sham products or were overcharged on credit cards. Implementing these refunds has cost shareholders an estimated $1.8 billion, while other costs incurred to manage risk, compliance, regulation and litigation arising from the misconduct currently exceed $2 billion. Just how strong Hayne's final punch is remains to be seen. During the commission's hearing, he revealed his rather unique "iron-fist in velvet-glove" approach. And, in the end, the velvet was wearing pretty thin.

His 1000-page interim report certainly drew back the fist, concluding on the root cause of misconduct: “Why did it happen? Too often, the answer seems to be greed – the pursuit of short-term profit at the expense of basic standards of honesty. How else is charging continuing advice fees to the dead to be explained?” It's entirely possible Hayne's final report will recommend an end to bank ownership of financial and mortgage adviser networks, the banning of certain commissions, an overhaul of CEO pay and new powers and funding for regulators. In responding, it’s time for Labor and the Coalition politicians to put aside political bickering and commit to leading a sensible national conversation about the report's conclusions. A big ask, to be sure, on the eve of an election. But the political response to Hayne's recommendations will affect Aussie hip pockets long after the cardboard ballot boxes of this election are recycled into toilet paper. Having already promised to swallow the recommendations whole, there seems little point to Labor’s current blustering over Treasurer Frydenberg’s decision to wait until Monday to release the report, which will be delivered to the Governor-General this Friday.

Loading Labor sat on the Ken Henry tax report for about three months before releasing it, along with its full list of responses to individual recommendations. So the Treasurer taking the weekend to read what promises to be the most radical reshaping of our financial system in living memory hardly seems unreasonable. The Coalition maintains it is still considering its position on whether to adopt all of Hayne's proposals. Amid widespread popular disgust at the misconduct revealed, it will be under considerable pressure to adopt most, if not all. But doing so will likely involve substantial budgetary cost to boost regulator funding, along with political pain from those whose livelihoods may be threatened, such as mortgage brokers. As they embark on their weekend reading, Coalition strategists must keep the national interest – rather than their own political interests – at the fore.