A royal commission is needed to properly probe Commonwealth Bank's maladministration of its financial planning arm, the Economics References Committee of the Senate has concluded.As expected, the committee's final report on the performance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission focuses on CBA more than on ASIC.The committee said it was "of the view that the CBA deliberately played down the seriousness and extent of problems in an attempt to avoid ASIC's scrutiny, contain adverse publicity and minimise compensation payments.It accused CBA of "for some considerable time, keeping the committee, ASIC and its clients in the dark. "The time is well overdue for full, frank and open disclosure on the planning matter."The committee said it was "concerned that there are potentially many more affected clients that have not been fairly compensated. "The clients that gave evidence at a public hearing were exceptional in that they were willing to voice their concerns publicly and were able to fight for compensation because of their circumstances. "They were fortunate because they had a family member determined to assist them, were able to obtain independent expert advice, or were able to obtain a copy of their original file from one of the whistleblowers."The committee said its confidence in ASIC's ability to monitor the CBA's implementation of its new undertaking regarding the compensation process was "severely undermined."It said its study of CBA's planning business "showed ASIC as a timid, hesitant regulator, too ready and willing to accept uncritically the assurances of a large institution that there were no grounds for ASIC's concerns or intervention.""As the committee gathered more and more evidence, however, lingering doubts began to grow about the robustness and fairness of the ASIC-sanctioned compensation process for CFPL clients who had suffered losses because of adviser misconduct. "Recent developments, whereby both ASIC and the CBA have corrected their testimony about the compensation process, have only deepened the committee's misgivings about the integrity and fairness of the process."ASIC and the Commonwealth Bank responded to the Senate committee's report via media releases, circulated last evening.CBA reiterated its apology for the past events in its Commonwealth Financial Planning and Financial Wisdom businesses.  "We deeply regret that some of our financial advisers did not provide quality advice to customers, some of whom had trusted and banked with us for decades. …[and] putting our customers into the position they would have been in had they received appropriate advice for some customers took time."CBA also took time to "strongly refute" accusations that it failed to take the problems in its financial planning businesses very seriously, asserting that it " … has worked openly and transparently with the Senate Committee and ASIC throughout the inquiry."In its response, ASIC said it would consider carefully the Senate's report, while also stating: "The Committee's report is to the Government, so ASIC will not comment on the policy recommendations."ASIC did concede, however, that there were some recommendations directed more at its own procedures and therefore had already made several changes in these areas: handling of