The financial services authority AFM says it is ‘reasonably’ pleased at the way banks and financial advisors have dealt with the ban on commission on mortgages this year.

Since January, mortgage providers have been required to charge clients a fee for their advice rather than commission on the products they sell.

But although most are now obeying the law, some banks are not charging the full amount for their advice but are offsetting this against interest rates, a spokesman told the Financieele Dagblad.

‘This makes it impossible to see if the charges are fair,’ spokesman Michiel Denkers said.Financial advisors have also complained that banks are undercutting them by not passing on the full cost of advice, including office and personnel costs, the FD said. This complaint could be justified, Denkers told the paper.