If the royal commission overseen by Kenneth Hayne achieves nothing else, then we should like to think it might finally end the business practice of profiting from the naivety of customers.

A reality of of our economy is that every Australian must have a relationship with a bank or other financial institution.

It might be as simple as a credit card or as complex as a business loan or mortgage.

We rely on finance to buy our first car or first home, and every other major purchase from the time we start working until the moment we retire – and often beyond.

Our relationship with a bank is often one of the longest in our lives, but it is rarely an equal relationship.

Very few Australians have anywhere near the financial literacy required to properly understand the contracts they sign with a bank, let alone the financial skills needed to negotiate for a better deal.

And the banks, of course, know this. Indeed, they have raked in billions of dollars in profits over the years simply by exploiting that naivety.

And so our greatest hope must be that if the recommendations of the Hayne report are implemented then they move the dial a long way towards protecting consumers from being ripped off.

Many – particularly those who have been burned most badly by the banks – will argue that the Hayne recommendations do not go far enough but the cautious approach was prudent to maintain reasonable confidence and stability in the sector.

But he has laid out a plan that should give customers greater assurance that their bank is working for to earn the interest being paid, rather than against them to gouge every possible dollar.

They include recommendations that mortgage brokers should be banned from taking commissions from banks because it creates a conflict of interest, and measures to make it easier for who shift jobs to keep track of their default super funds and pool them into one fund.

They are simple steps but important, and hopefully just the start.

If we all have to deal with banks throughout our lives, we at least deserve to know we’re getting a fair deal.