Arriving at a coherent understanding across the Australian mortgage broking industry on a reset of commissions - while not setting off any competition law challenges - is a hot topic for this niche sector. That makes it at least a warm issue to be sorted by the banking sector as a whole, fearful of further government regulation of its bread and butter.Ian McPhee, in his fifth "independent governance expert report" for the Australian Bankers Association planted his concerns on the matter at the centre of the introduction to this report.The irritation is there: "While individual banks are progressing with the development of their own principles on remuneration and incentives, there are a range of views held by the banks on the merits of the industry proceeding with the development of industry-level guiding principles," McPhee wrote.The position cannot continue for long."It is clearly desirable for the industry to settle its position in relation to this matter and reflect it as appropriate in the ABA's implementation plan," McPhee said.McPhee said the "ABA believes there is a significant opportunity for the mortgage industry ... to develop a self-regulatory response to change payments and governance arrangements in mortgage broking."McPhee scored the banking sector introspection embedded in the ABA's "April 2016 package of six initiatives to better protect consumer interests, increase transparency and accountability, and build trust and confidence in banks."Divergent views - meaning big banks yet to get their way - will need to be resolved cooperatively, in the view of many stakeholders - with Ian McPhee maybe among them.He wrote that "the ABA has noted that both representatives from mortgage brokers and the Finance Sector Union have an expectation that any reforms will happen on an aligned basis across the industry, suggesting that further consultation will be required before positions can be settled."It's taking time for the sector to engage on commissions paid to brokers and referrers in home loan land.McPhee noted these complex talks are underway.The first Mortgage Industry Forum was convened on 9 June, McPhee reported, "to discuss the potential impacts of both the Review and ASIC's review of mortgage broker remuneration."Alongside the ABA, were "representatives of Consumer Owned Banking Association, Finance Brokers Association of Australia, the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia, and representatives from mortgage brokers, aggregators and banks."A second meeting of the Forum was held earlier this week, on 18 July, which the mortgage industry representatives insisted showed "the progress we are making together as an industry."