ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft says he is “fired up” over the conduct of dodgy financial planners, as was clear to all after his National Press Club address this week.

An emotional Medcraft revealed his feelings after the address and questions from journalists, referencing his time as a New York investment banker.

“I am fired up because I'm from an investment-banking background and I've come to this very new over the past seven years,” Mr Medcraft said.

“It has absolutely broken my heart to see what financial advisers have done and what they continue to do to people,” he said, blaming bad planners for a range of recent financial scandals and building a broad mistrust of the industry.

Medcraft let loose following his careful and measured Press Club address, which covered everything from the state of Australian superannuation to the public’s confidence in some financial advice.

“I have long been passionate about lifting trust and confidence in this sector. Only one in five Australians get financial advice. With recent high-profile cases of advisers mis-selling financial products, this is sadly no surprise,” the ASIC boss said.

“The industry needs to get its house in order.”

He also became the latest figure to back a national exam for financial advisers.

“I see the exam as a co-regulatory solution that would provide national assurance to all Australians that financial advisers were tested in a secure environment; financial advisers meet a minimum level of competence tested at a university-degree level; and financial advisers' training has ethics as a core component.”

ASIC has had to defend itself this week from media assaults claiming it abandoned plans to overhaul education standards in the planning industry, with News Corp reporting that lobbies fought to bury the idea.

The report said Australia’s nine key finance industry lobby groups - including the Financial Planning Association, the Australian Bankers’ Association and the Financial Services Council - co-signed a private letter to Mr Medcraft last year calling for “higher standards of education” for financial advisers to be “determined in a holistic manner”, rather than “considering distinct elements in isolation”.

“The lobby groups collectively called for a halt of ASIC’s plans,” the story in The Australian said.

But a spokesperson for ASIC has allegedly told industry press Money Management that News Corp’s claims were inaccurate, and there was no a lobbying push to pause improvements in standards.

“This letter was not a factor in ASIC's decision to put its work on CPs 212 and 215 on hold,” the spokesperson reportedly said.

It appears that the review of adviser competence launched by former Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos, was the key factor behind the suspension of CP 212.

Mr Medcraft’s Press Club address is accessible on the ABC’s iview service, here.