After 68 days of hearings over the past 12 months, the royal commission has handed down its final report, laying bare a culture that allowed misconduct to thrive at the expense of consumers' best interests.
Commissioner Kenneth Hayne's damning report lays the blame for wrongdoing fairly and squarely with the banks and those who run them.
He's made 24 referrals to regulators, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, for further investigation.
The cases involve potential wrongdoing at all major banks except for Westpac, but doesn't name those who may be responsible for the alleged misconduct.
Declaring the time for apologies is over, Commissioner Hayne has made 76 recommendations designed to better protect consumers.
The government released the report on Monday after considering the findings over the weekend.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the banking sector must change forever.
"In Commissioner Hayne's own words, "There can be no doubt that the primary responsibility for misconduct in the financial services industry lies with the entities concerned and their boards and their senior management."
Not all the proposals will be popular.
Among the most significant recommendations is that borrowers, rather than lenders, pay mortgage brokers for their services.
The change is designed to give brokers an incentive to act in the best interests of the customer rather than lenders that pay them commission, but would require borrowers to pay upfront fees.
Measures compelling banks to treat farmers more compassionately have also been proposed, with a ban on charging default interest on agricultural land in times of drought or natural disaster.
A national scheme of farm debt remediation would also be established.
The commission also recommended the two regulators cooperate and police the rules they're responsible for with greater enforcement.
On superannuation, the commission suggested banning unsolicited selling of any products and prohibiting deducting advice fees from My-Super accounts.
The federal government has vowed to take action on all 76 recommendations with Treasurer Frydenberg suggesting financial advisors will face new controls.
"With stronger industry reference checking, greater reporting of serious compliance concerns, and a new single disciplinary body, with which all advisors must be registered."
He says the government will also establish a compensation scheme for victims of banking misconduct.
"Let me be clear - personal responsibility for financial decisions rests with those who make them. However, consumers and small businesses who suffer harm as a result of misconduct will now have access to redress."
Labor's shadow treasurer Chris Bowen was quick to remind the public that the Prime Minister Scott Morrison had resisted establishing a royal commission.
"Today is a day that Scott Morrison and his entire government should hang their head in shame that they voted 26 times to avoid this report ever seeing the light of day. This is a dark day for banks and financial institutes."
The Labor government has accepted all the recommendations in-principle and would set up a Treasury taskforce to implement them.
With time running out before the May election and only 10 parliamentary sitting days before then, how both sides tackle the issues raised by the commission will feature on the campaign trail.
