Following the publication of a report from Australian Securities and Investments Commission (see previous article), acting ASIC chair Peter Kell said the regulator was already working with the major financial institutions to address shortcomings over quality of advice and conflicts of interest.The specific licensees tied in with the major firms, included as part of the review, were: AMP Financial Planning Pty Limited and Charter Financial Planning Limited;  ANZ's Millennium 3 Financial Planning Pty Ltd and ANZ Financial Planning; CBA's Count Financial Limited and Commonwealth Financial Planning Limited; NAB's GWM Adviser Services Limited and NAB Financial Planning; and Westpac's Securitor Financial Group Ltd and Westpac Financial Planning.Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, a long-time advocate for decoupling banks from their wealth management arms, was equally measured: "The Greens have been raising the dangers of vertical integration in the banking system for years. This report from ASIC is vindication for our position. This needs to be one of the core issues the Royal Commission has to look at and the Commissioner shouldn't be afraid of recommending breaking up existing vertical integration within the big banks," he said.By way of contrast, the Financial Services Council latched onto the comment by ASIC that the Future of Financial Advice Reforms place an obligation on financial advisers to act always in their clients' best interests, and impose a prospective ban on commissions for investment products.  "ASIC has acknowledged in this review that these reforms have resulted in an improvement in the quality of advice and expects that it will take some time for all reforms to have their full intended effect on the financial advice industry," an FSC spokesman said."In drawing conclusions regarding 'non-compliant advice', ASIC has considered file documentation alone; it has not consulted with individual clients or advisers. It is the FSC's view that, before drawing definitive conclusions about the appropriateness of advice, the client and the adviser should be consulted," the spokesman said.