“We understand that ASIC’s hands are tied in relation to cost recovery, and we are not opposed to a user-pays model, however the users who caused the current regulatory cost burden are not being made to pay for it,” TAA chief executive Neil Macdonald said on Tuesday.

“By exiting advice the big banks, despite being largely responsible for some of the poorest behaviours, are able to avoid paying.”

TAA previously pushed for a fee calculated as a three-year multiple of the ASIC adviser levy, per adviser, which would be based on the institution’s adviser numbers.

“At $3,138 per adviser, this would put the fee for those institutions at almost $10,000 per adviser,” Mr Macdonald said.

“As we said earlier this year, expecting small business advisers and ultimately their clients to keep paying ever-increasing costs for the sins of the past, largely committed by the big end of town, is unconscionable.”

Mr Macdonald’s comments come after a number of industry bodies called for the levy model to be urgently addressed in the last week, including SAFAA and the FPA.