Mortgage brokers and aggregators have averted a legislated overhaul of their remuneration and governance practices after the industry caved into pressure from ASIC to eliminate volume-based incentives.An industry forum, comprising representatives of mortgage brokers, lenders, consumer advocates and aggregators, yesterday accepted a string of reforms put up by the consumer regulator aimed at improving public trust in mortgage advice.The reforms include the voluntary abolition of commissions tied to sales volumes and campaign-based commissions, along with the adoption of new measures to prevent brokers from encouraging consumers to borrow more than they need.A centrepiece of the industry forum's response is a proposed performance measure known as "Good Customer Outcome", which exceeds current legal and compliance requirements on mortgage brokers for assessing whether their advice meets the interests of prospective borrowers.Australia's leading consumer advocates responded positively to the industry's pledge to eradicate volume-linked payments."This announcement from mortgage brokers, aggregators and lenders is a positive first step towards ensuring that mortgage brokers act in customer interests," said CHOICE director of campaigns, Erin Turner."The changes should lead to a greater degree of transparency."Mike Felton, chief executive of the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia(MFAA) said the reforms would deliver better consumer outcomes and an enhanced governance framework across the industry."These are necessary reforms," he said."At a time when scrutiny of our industry has never been higher, the time to re-prosecute these issues has passed."We must address the issues raised by ASIC and self-regulate effectively, or our industry will face negative consequences, both in reputation and in regulation."ASIC, which earlier this year highlighted concerns around remuneration practices in the mortgage broking sector, has not yet responded officially to the industry's moves to self-regulate.However, Banking Day understands that senior executives at the regulator welcome the forum's response to its concerns and broadly support the measures the industry is promising to implement.Mortgage brokers have skirted the fate of financial planners whose remuneration is now heavily regulated by federal legislation.That outcome is mostly attributable to the growing popularity of brokers, who now originate more than 55 per cent of all home loans written in Australia.Throughout the consultation process, financial services minister Kelly O'Dwyer has underlined the strategic importance of the sector to homebuyers and for stimulating competition between lenders.A spokesperson for O'Dwyer last night said most of the forum's reform package would, for the most part, not require legislative changes.The overhaul of broker remuneration will enter a second phase next year when forum participants will address the future of trail commissions and begin work on drafting a new "ASIC-registered code".There appears to be considerable daylight between consumer groups and broker representatives on both of these issues, with CHOICE arguing that the industry has not shown how trail commissions are linked to services provided to borrowers.CHOICE is also agitating for brokers to embed the principle of "having to act in the best interests of consumers" in the soon-to-be-drafted code of conduct."We are pleased that industry will continue to develop and implement reforms over 2018 and work towards an enforceable