There are two amber lights amid a cascade of green in a dashboard summary by the Australian Bankers Association appraising the state of play on its Banking Reform Program, an industry self-help scheme instigated in April 2016."Fee transparency" and "Stopping poor conduct moving around the industry" are the two topics on which the ABA's self-assessment, released yesterday, is cautious on progress.On both topics the ABA is looking to the government and parliament for help.The Reference Checking & Information Sharing Protocol is the most sensitive of the two, a reform the ABA's CEO, Anna Bligh, is yet to persuade select media is nothing like a "black list".This new protocol "is due to be published soon, with the major banks committed to adopting it from 1 July 2017 and the other banks by 1 October 2017," the ABA explained in its report card. "The industry is also working through some complex legal issues and divergent stakeholder views about the introduction of an industry register," this report card added.The protocol "aims to promote better information sharing about the performance history of financial advisers focusing on compliance, risk management and advice quality, improve reference checking, and assist employers make informed recruitment decisions about financial advisers," reads the ABA's account of its mission statement behind this work stream.The scope of what that ABA also labelled a "Conduct Background Check Protocol for bank employees" was spelled out in its assessment."This new protocol uses a series of fact-based questions about whether the individual is subject to an ongoing investigation relating to defined categories of misconduct or was dismissed or resigned in specific circumstances relating to material misconduct," the ABA said.The register "is intended to provide information about previous conduct history to help improve recruitment practices and decisions."A register "supported by a statutory underpinning would overcome some of the legal issues and operational barriers inherent with new standards only being adopted by the banks," the ABA concluded on this topic.A reshaping of rules in place for a decade or more on product disclosure is the second "reform" making muted headway.The ABA's notion is for "changes to improve regulated disclosures around fees so customers get better, not more information", maybe in nifty ways.In polite terms the ABA wrote that "the Federal Government supported the recommendation in the final report of the Financial System Inquiry to facilitate innovative disclosure."The Government has indicated any regulatory impediments will be addressed through legislation."