Australia's mortgage broking industry has moved closer to removing volume-based bonus commissions, campaign-based commissions, and other volume-based bonus payments from the payments stream of Australia's mortgage brokers and aggregators.This announcement was one of several made in a progress report from the mortgage broking industry's newly established Combined Industry Forum. The CIF was set up with the backing of 35 industry bodies and lenders to facilitate progress towards the adoption of ASIC's recommendations.The move against volume based payments - that is, the larger the loan, the higher the commission - follows findings in ASIC's "Review of Mortgage Broker Remuneration" and the Australian Banking Association's Sedgwick Review which identified there was a risk that volume-based incentives introduced a conflict of interest into the broker-client equation. Volume-based incentives in residential mortgage lending have also been criticised during the Hayne royal commission for not meeting community standards and not delivering the best results for customers.In accepting these changes, the industry said it had responded to concerns that the previous incentives risked customers being encouraged to borrow more than they needed. "The work of the Combined Industry Forum shows how the industry is committed to reform and to raise the bar in support of good customer outcomes," chair of the forum Anthony Waldron said. In his day job, Waldron is NAB's executive general manager of broker partnerships.What he didn't mention is that many of the changes, such as the introduction of the new remuneration structure, have been pushed back to "next year". The CIF's interim report goes on to explain that there are working groups looking at making further changes to the standard commission model, creating a new regime for controlling and disclosing non-monetary benefits, and improved public reporting and disclosure requirements.Some reluctance to change has been surfacing, however, as this paragraph shows:"CIF members have commenced work towards a governance and reporting structure that will build on existing self-regulation arrangements. Subject to compliance with competition laws, the CIF is also investigating how the industry's self-regulation efforts could be monitored and assessed over time."   Foremost among these will be a 'conflicts priority rule', to be known as a 'Customer First Duty' which is still under development by the CIF. The intention is for it to be based on "an easy to follow principle: putting the customer's interests first and matching the needs of the consumer with the right home loan product and lender".The industry has begun overhauling agreements between providers and brokers to remove discount or 'free aggregation' for specific loans (so-called "soft dollar benefits"). The CIF has stated this will substantially reduce incentives for brokers to sell loans from one particular provider. This work will be completed by the end of the year.So far, as with all the other changes under consideration, no details are forthcoming in the CIF progress report.Treasury and ASIC have been briefed on the forum's report.