Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Commonwealth Bank

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is a multinational financial institution headquartered in Sydney, serving as one of Australia's "Big Four" banks and the largest by total assets and market capitalization.^[1]^[2] Established in 1911 under the Commonwealth Bank Act as a government-owned entity to provide savings banking and general commercial services to the public, it commenced operations in 1912 with a focus on accessible banking for ordinary Australians.^[3]^[4] Privatization began in 1991 under the Hawke-Keating Labor government, with full divestment completed by 1996, transforming CBA from a public institution into a shareholder-owned corporation listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.^[5]^[6] This shift enabled expansion through mergers, including the acquisition of Colonial First State in 2000, and pioneering digital innovations such as the launch of NetBank online services in 1997, which positioned CBA as an early leader in electronic banking.^[5] As of June 2025, CBA manages approximately AUD 1.35 trillion in assets, employs over 51,000 people, and serves more than 16 million customers across retail, business, and institutional segments, with operations extending to Asia and Europe.^[7]^[8]^[9] CBA's growth has been marked by strong financial performance, including record risk-weighted asset expansion and lending support to households and businesses amid economic pressures, though it has faced significant regulatory scrutiny.^[10] In 2018, the bank agreed to a record AUD 700 million penalty imposed by AUSTRAC for systemic breaches of anti-money laundering laws, including the failure to report over 53,000 suspicious transactions processed through intelligent deposit machines between 2012 and 2015, exposing vulnerabilities in transaction monitoring and customer due diligence.^[11]^[12] These lapses, which facilitated potential money laundering and terrorism financing risks, underscored operational shortcomings despite CBA's scale, prompting enhanced compliance reforms but highlighting ongoing challenges in balancing growth with robust risk controls.^[11]

History

Foundation and Initial Operations (1911–1919)

The Commonwealth Bank Act 1911, receiving royal assent on 22 December 1911, founded the Commonwealth Bank of Australia as a government-owned entity authorized to operate both savings and general trading banking functions.^[13] Enacted under Prime Minister Andrew Fisher's Labor administration, the legislation established Australia's inaugural national bank to extend financial services to depositors overlooked by private institutions, particularly in rural areas.^[14] King O'Malley, a Labor parliamentarian, vigorously campaigned for the bank's establishment, envisioning a publicly controlled institution to democratize banking access and mitigate private sector dominance.^[15] The Act stipulated an initial capital of £1,000,000, derived mainly from Commonwealth government deposits with state guarantees ensuring stability.^[16] Operations commenced on 15 July 1912 with the opening of the first branch in Melbourne, led by inaugural governor Sir Denison Miller.^[17] Prioritizing savings accounts, the bank leveraged around 489 post office agencies in Victoria for widespread deposit collection, serving urban and remote customers while minimizing rivalry with established private banks through complementary services.^[18]^[19] Expansion to branches in all states by 1913 facilitated handling government accounts and deposit growth, laying groundwork for sustained operations through World War I without assuming central banking duties.^[17]

Central Banking Era (1920–1959)

In the aftermath of World War I, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia progressively assumed central banking responsibilities, beginning with the transfer of Australian currency note issuance from the Department of the Treasury via the Currency Act 1920.^[20] This shift positioned the Bank as the primary manager of the national currency supply, marking an initial step toward centralized monetary control despite its original mandate under the 1911 Act focusing on commercial operations.^[21] By 1924, the Bank gained full authority over note issuance, leading to the abolition of the Australian Notes Board and consolidating its role in maintaining currency stability amid post-war economic adjustments.^[20] During the interwar period, particularly amid the economic contraction of the early 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Bank's central functions expanded through legislative interventions. In 1931, following federal government directives amid financial instability, the Bank assumed control of the fixed exchange rate, devaluing the Australian pound by 25% to address balance-of-payments pressures and export declines.^[22] That year, it also merged with the government-owned Savings Bank of New South Wales, enhancing its deposit base and public sector integration while providing liquidity support to distressed state savings banks in Western Australia and South Australia.^[23] These measures reflected growing reliance on the Bank for crisis management, though tensions arose with private trading banks over policy influence. The Bank's central role intensified during World War II, where it served as the government's primary fiscal agent, organizing and promoting war loan campaigns that raised substantial funds through bond sales to finance military expenditures.^[24] The Commonwealth Bank Act 1945 and the concurrent Banking Act 1945 codified these wartime powers, granting the Bank explicit authority over monetary policy administration, exchange controls, and banking regulation while abolishing its independent board to enable direct Commonwealth oversight.^[20] This legislation entrenched the Bank's dual structure but fueled debates on government dominance versus commercial autonomy, culminating in legal challenges upheld by the High Court in 1951. By the late 1950s, concerns over conflicting commercial and policy objectives prompted structural reform. The Reserve Bank Act 1959, effective from 14 January 1960, bifurcated the institution: central banking duties—including note issuance, monetary policy, and government banking—transferred to the newly established Reserve Bank of Australia, while trading and savings operations continued under the renamed Commonwealth Banking Corporation.^[21] This separation aimed to insulate policy decisions from profit motives, aligning with international trends toward independent central banks.^[21]

Expansion and Diversification (1960–1990)

Following the separation of central banking functions to the newly established Reserve Bank of Australia on 14 January 1960, the Commonwealth Banking Corporation refocused exclusively on commercial operations, including retail savings, general banking, and development finance.^[20]^[25] This shift enabled targeted expansion in domestic retail services amid Australia's post-war economic growth, with the bank prioritizing branch network development to serve rural and urban populations.^[26] By the late 1960s, the institution had established a dedicated Commonwealth Development Bank subsidiary to provide long-term loans for industrial, agricultural, and small business projects, supporting the resources boom in mining and primary industries.^[27] In the 1970s, diversification accelerated as the bank entered adjacent financial services to complement core lending. Operations expanded into home insurance and travel services in 1974, followed by the creation of an in-house finance company, Commonwealth Bank Finance Corporation, in 1975 to offer specialized consumer and equipment financing.^[26] This period also saw enhanced agribusiness and home loan portfolios, capitalizing on rising demand during commodity price surges, with the bank widening foreign exchange capabilities to assist export-oriented clients in resources and agriculture.^[26] International outreach grew modestly, including representative offices in key markets, though primary emphasis remained on domestic retail penetration over aggressive overseas branching.^[26] The 1980s brought structural challenges from financial deregulation under the Hawke-Keating government, including the 1983 float of the Australian dollar and progressive removal of interest rate controls and entry barriers for foreign banks.^[28] The Commonwealth Bank adapted by modernizing product offerings, such as introducing competitive deposit and loan rates to counter new entrants, while leveraging its established branch infrastructure—numbering over 1,000 outlets by decade's end—for customer retention.^[29] In 1990, it pursued strategic scale through a merger agreement with the State Bank of Victoria on 26 August, acquiring significant regional assets to bolster market share in housing and business lending amid intensifying competition.^[26] These moves positioned the bank to navigate liberalization while maintaining dominance in retail and diversified services.^[29]

Privatization and Restructuring (1991–2000)

The privatization process for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia began in September 1991 when the Labor government sold the first tranche of shares to public investors, marking the initial divestment of government ownership and raising funds to reduce public debt.^[30] This initial offering represented approximately 20 percent of the bank's equity and coincided with its listing on the Australian Securities Exchange on 12 September 1991, subjecting the institution to market scrutiny and shareholder accountability for the first time.^[31] The move aligned with broader economic reforms emphasizing reduced state intervention in commercial banking, aiming to leverage private capital markets for improved capital allocation.^[5] Subsequent tranches followed in 1995 under the continuing Labor administration and in 1996 under the newly elected Howard Coalition government, completing the full divestment by July 1996 and transitioning the bank entirely to private ownership.^[27] This phased approach allowed for orderly market absorption while enabling the bank to adapt to competitive dynamics without abrupt fiscal shocks.^[30] Privatization exposed the bank to profit-driven incentives, which empirical analyses indicate drove operational reforms, including branch network rationalization and technology investments, yielding measurable efficiency improvements over state control.^[32] Concurrently, restructuring efforts in the early 1990s included the January 1991 acquisition of the distressed State Bank of Victoria from the Victorian government for A$1.6 billion, integrating its branch network and customer base to bolster the Commonwealth Bank's scale in retail and regional banking.^[33]^[34] This merger, facilitated by federal guarantees amid the state bank's losses from property exposures, positioned the Commonwealth Bank as Australia's largest domestic lender by assets and paved the way for its consolidation among the Big Four banks alongside Westpac, ANZ, and National Australia Bank.^[27] Post-acquisition integration focused on cost synergies, such as duplicative branch closures and IT system unification, which contributed to profitability gains by the mid-1990s.^[32] These strategies emphasized defensive growth through domestic consolidation rather than aggressive international expansion, aligning with a deregulated environment that intensified competition on margins and service efficiency.^[35]

Contemporary Growth and Challenges (2001–present)

Following the full privatization in 1996, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) pursued aggressive expansion through strategic acquisitions and organic growth, solidifying its position as Australia's largest bank by market capitalization. In October 2008, amid the global financial crisis, CBA acquired Bankwest from HBOS for A$2.1 billion, gaining a strong foothold in Western Australia where Bankwest held significant market share in mortgages and deposits.^[36]^[37] This move, completed in 2008, enhanced CBA's regional diversification and contributed to its customer base expansion, reaching over 16 million customers by 2025.^[9] CBA demonstrated notable resilience during the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC), avoiding the need for government bailouts that afflicted many international peers, thanks to its conservative lending practices, limited exposure to toxic assets, and robust capital buffers maintained under Australia's stringent prudential regulations.^[38]^[39] Unlike U.S. institutions requiring massive public interventions, CBA relied on private capital raises, such as hybrid securities issuance, to bolster liquidity without direct taxpayer support, underscoring the sector's overall stability relative to global counterparts.^[40] In response to the digital economy's evolution, CBA invested heavily in technological infrastructure post-GFC, launching mobile banking enhancements and accelerating its digital strategy from 2021 onward to deliver globally competitive user experiences through AI, data analytics, and app-based services.^[41]^[42] By 2025, these efforts supported seamless customer interactions amid rising online transaction volumes, though challenges persisted from cybersecurity threats and regulatory scrutiny over data practices. The bank's refreshed 2025 strategy emphasized aiding Australia's economic growth amid heightened volatility from geopolitical tensions and inflationary pressures, prioritizing productivity tools and customer-centric innovations to navigate uncertain conditions.^[43]^[44]

Organizational Structure

Retail and Consumer Banking

The Retail Banking Services division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia primarily caters to personal and private banking customers in Australia, offering core products such as home loans, transaction accounts, savings deposits, and credit cards. As of fiscal year 2024, this segment served over 14.3 million CBA-branded customers, contributing significantly to the group's operations through net interest income of $11.1 billion and total assets exceeding $524 billion.^[45] Home loans represent a key focus, with outstanding balances reaching $664.7 billion by June 2024, reflecting a 2% year-over-year increase and support for over 120,000 households in home purchases during the period.^[45] Deposits grew to $881.6 billion, underscoring the division's role in everyday banking amid competitive pressures from other Australian banks.^[45] Commonwealth Bank maintains Australia's largest physical branch network, with 709 branches and service centers as of June 2024, including a commitment to keep all regional branches open until at least mid-2027 to ensure accessibility in underserved areas.^[45]^[46] This network supports complex customer interactions, such as personalized lending advice and hardship assistance, while integrating with digital tools for efficiency; for instance, 70% of proprietary home loan applications receive same-day decisions through automated processes.^[45] The customer service model has transitioned to a hybrid framework, blending physical presence with robust digital capabilities to meet evolving demands. Over 9.3 million customers engage digitally, with 8.5 million using the CommBank app for an average of 41 monthly logins, facilitating $997 billion in transactions annually.^[45] This approach has earned top rankings in Net Promoter Scores for consumer mobile banking and recognition as Canstar's Bank of the Year for Digital Banking in 2025, emphasizing seamless integration for routine services like deposits and payments while reserving branches for advisory needs.^[45]^[47]

Business and Institutional Banking

The Business and Institutional Banking division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) delivers specialized financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), mid-tier businesses, corporates, governments, and institutional clients across Australia and internationally. This includes transaction banking solutions such as payments, cash management, and liquidity optimization tools designed to enhance operational efficiency and cash flow visibility.^[48] The division also encompasses advisory and financing for complex needs, serving as CBA's primary interface for corporate coverage, structured credit products, and government entities.^[49] Key offerings feature trade finance, working capital solutions, and supply chain finance to support global operations, particularly for resource-intensive sectors like mining. For instance, CBA has provided targeted funding, such as a A$95 million green loan to mining technology firm Chrysos Corporation in 2024 for expanding core scanning services in critical minerals processing.^[50] In capital markets, the division facilitates capital raising, fixed income, derivatives, and risk management products, including foreign exchange and interest rate hedging, to mitigate market volatility for institutional clients.^[51] These services extend to international branches, such as in North America, where CBA offers financing and risk management to Australian corporates expanding abroad.^[52] Following CBA's full privatization between 1991 and 1996, the bank underwent structural reforms that prioritized commercial efficiency, enabling aggressive expansion into business lending.^[29] This shift contributed to sustained portfolio growth, with business lending increasing by 12.2% in fiscal year 2025 amid broader economic recovery, outpacing home lending growth of 6.1%.^[53] By mid-2025, the division's lending portfolio held an 18.9% market share in Australian business loans, generating approximately 40% of CBA's overall profits through diversified revenue from fees, margins, and advisory services.^[54]^[55] Such growth reflects post-privatization incentives for profitability, though it has occasionally elevated non-performing loan risks in competitive pursuit of market share.^[32]

Wealth Management and Insurance

The Commonwealth Bank's wealth management operations historically centered on the integration of Colonial First State (CFS), acquired in 2000 for A$6.3 billion to bolster funds management and financial advice capabilities. This acquisition expanded CBA's superannuation and investment platforms, incorporating CFS's established products like FirstChoice for retail investors and institutional asset management services. By 2013, efforts to streamline operations included merging CFS's traditional platform administration with CBA's Essential Super product, managing over A$62 billion in assets at the time. However, persistent underperformance and regulatory pressures led to a partial divestment, with CBA selling a 55% stake in CFS to KKR in May 2020 for A$2.1 billion, valuing the entity at A$3.8 billion, and completing the transaction on December 1, 2021, effectively exiting majority control.^[56]^[57] Post-divestment, CBA shifted toward simplified, low-cost investment options to address market demands for accessible products amid competition from passive strategies. Essential Super, a core superannuation offering, emphasizes low fees and high-growth options, earning Mozo awards for low-fee superannuation targeted at Generation Z investors; it supports retirement planning for members via integration with CBA's NetBank and app platforms. Investment products include Everyday Investing, allowing allocations from A$2 into up to three professionally managed funds, and Pocket ETFs via CommSec Pocket, a robo-advisory app enabling themed exchange-traded fund investments starting at A$50 with automated portfolio management. In August 2025, CBA launched Private Wealth Advantage through its subsidiary Commonwealth Private Limited, a self-directed platform for wholesale investors with up to A$30 million in assets, partnering with J.P. Morgan Asset Management for access to index funds, active strategies, and customized portfolios to recapture high-net-worth clients. Financial advice is now provided via AIA Financial Wellbeing, offering pay-per-use tailored guidance without ongoing commitments.^[58]^[59]^[60] Insurance offerings were previously handled through CommInsure, CBA's life and general insurance arm, which faced significant regulatory scrutiny starting in 2016 over claims handling and misselling practices. A Prudential Inquiry by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in 2018 highlighted governance failures, including delays in claim approvals and conflicts in vertically integrated advice leading to unsuitable life insurance sales bundled with superannuation. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission charged CommInsure in 2019 with 87 counts of unlawful policy sales, resulting in remediation efforts and class actions seeking compensation for excess premiums paid due to flawed financial advice. In response, CBA divested CommInsure Life to AIA Group in April 2021 for approximately A$2.4 billion in proceeds after adjustments, and CommInsure General Insurance to Hollard in September 2022, retaining distribution alliances for home, car, and landlord policies. Current insurance products are distributed rather than owned, including AIA-backed health and life insurance for Essential Super members, alongside Hollard-underwritten home and motor coverage, reflecting a strategic exit from underwriting to mitigate risk exposure.^[61]^[62]^[63]

Technology and Support Functions

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia employs approximately 48,900 staff as of June 30, 2024, primarily supporting internal functions including human resources, risk oversight, and technology operations across its Australian and international footprint.^[64] Human resources initiatives focus on enterprise agreements covering over 34,500 level 1 and 2 employees in Australia, emphasizing terms for compensation, conditions, and compliance training to maintain operational resilience.^[65] The bank's Group Risk Management Framework (GRMF) establishes the core governance for identifying, measuring, evaluating, monitoring, reporting, and controlling risks, including operational, financial, and compliance categories, with board-level oversight ensuring alignment to strategic priorities.^[66] Following the 2018 AUSTRAC enforcement action, which imposed a $700 million civil penalty for over 53,000 breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) obligations—primarily failures in transaction monitoring and reporting systems—the GRMF was strengthened with enhanced controls, independent audits, and remedial investments exceeding $400 million to address systemic deficiencies in risk infrastructure.^[11]^[67] Technology support functions underpin the bank's operational backbone through substantial IT investments, with annual expenses surpassing $2 billion as of fiscal year 2023, directed toward infrastructure maintenance, cybersecurity, and data management systems that enable secure transaction processing and regulatory compliance without direct customer interfaces.^[68] Recent migrations of core data platforms to cloud environments have centralized internal analytics capabilities, supporting risk modeling and efficiency gains in back-office processes.^[69] The corporate headquarters, located in Sydney's central business district, serves as the registered office and hub for executive oversight of support functions, while operational elements are distributed across specialized centers to facilitate scalability and localized risk management.^[3] This structure promotes decentralized execution within a unified framework, minimizing single points of failure in technology and compliance delivery.^[70]

Leadership and Governance

Chief Executive Officers and Key Executives

David Murray served as Chief Executive Officer from June 1992 to September 2005, overseeing the completion of the bank's privatization process between 1991 and 1996, which transitioned it from government ownership to a fully private entity and significantly expanded its market capitalization from approximately A$6 billion.^[71]^[72] Under Murray's leadership, the bank pursued a diversification strategy, broadening its portfolio across retail, business, institutional banking, wealth management, and insurance to reduce reliance on traditional lending and enhance resilience against economic cycles.^[73] This period marked substantial value creation for shareholders, with the bank's strategic shift contributing to sustained profitability growth amid Australia's deregulated financial sector.^[74] Ralph Norris succeeded Murray as CEO from September 2005 to November 2011, focusing on operational efficiencies and technological integration drawn from his prior experience at ASB Bank.^[71] During the Global Financial Crisis (2007–2009), Norris's tenure saw the bank maintain strong performance, with first-half net profit rising 13% year-over-year in 2010 despite global turmoil, supported by robust loan growth and conservative risk management that avoided the heavy losses incurred by some international peers.^[75] His leadership emphasized cost discipline and market share gains, culminating in record profits by 2011, though it faced criticism over interest rate decisions independent of the Reserve Bank of Australia.^[76]^[77] Ian Narev held the position from December 2011 to April 2018, during which the bank achieved record full-year profits nearing A$10 billion by 2017, driven by favorable housing market conditions and operational scale.^[71]^[78] However, Narev's era was marred by multiple compliance scandals, including anti-money laundering breaches via ATMs that led to AUSTRAC investigations and a A$10 million customer refund, as well as issues in financial planning and insurance practices that prompted parliamentary scrutiny and bonus forfeitures.^[79]^[80] These events eroded public trust and contributed to his announced departure in 2017, amid calls for greater accountability in banking conduct.^[81] Matt Comyn has been CEO since April 2018, with his tenure extended to at least 2028 as announced in October 2025, positioning him for a decade in the role.^[71]^[82] Comyn has prioritized digital transformation, accelerating investments in AI, personalized services, and multi-channel banking to enhance customer outcomes and operational efficiency, including the establishment of a Seattle tech hub for innovation.^[41]^[83] Under his leadership, the bank delivered a full-year cash profit of A$10.25 billion in 2025, reflecting continued post-privatization value accretion through technology-driven growth amid regulatory and economic pressures.^[84]

Board of Directors and Oversight

The Board of Directors of Commonwealth Bank of Australia comprises ten members, including one executive director and nine independent non-executive directors, with Paul O'Malley serving as the independent non-executive Chair since February 2020.^[66] This structure emphasizes independence to mitigate conflicts of interest, as assessed annually by the Nominations Committee against criteria aligned with ASX Corporate Governance Principles, ensuring directors are free from material relationships that could impair objective judgment.^[85] All non-executive directors met these independence standards throughout fiscal year 2025.^[85] Post-ASX listing in 1991 and full privatization by 1996, the board has prioritized independent oversight to align with public shareholder expectations, evolving from government-appointed structures to a majority-independent composition focused on strategic guidance and risk management.^[86] The Chair, Paul O'Malley, leads board renewal efforts, including the appointment of Jane McAloon as an independent non-executive director effective August 19, 2025, and endorsements for Alistair Currie and McAloon at the 2025 AGM.^[87]^[88] Governance is supported by four standing committees, each chaired by an independent non-executive director: the Audit Committee (chaired by Peter Harmer), Risk & Compliance Committee (chaired by Rob Whitfield AM), People & Remuneration Committee (chaired by Simon Moutter), and Nominations Committee (chaired by Paul O'Malley).^[66] The Audit Committee oversees financial reporting and internal controls, reviewing audit findings and endorsing annual financial statements for board approval.^[85] The Risk & Compliance Committee monitors enterprise risk management, risk appetite statements, and compliance frameworks, addressing emerging risks such as cyber threats and regulatory changes.^[85] These committees report directly to the full board, enhancing accountability by providing specialized scrutiny independent of management.^[85] The People & Remuneration Committee ensures alignment with shareholder interests through performance-linked remuneration frameworks, conducting biannual reviews of executive incentives tied to metrics like total shareholder return, earnings per share growth, and risk-adjusted performance.^[85] For the CEO and group executives, remuneration outcomes incorporate risk assessments from the Enterprise Risk Scorecard, deferring a portion of variable pay in equity to promote long-term value creation and discourage short-termism. This approach, detailed in annual disclosures, supports board oversight by linking director and executive compensation to verifiable shareholder outcomes, with clawback provisions for misconduct or financial restatements.^[85]

Products and Services

Core Banking Products

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) provides a range of traditional deposit and lending products as the foundation of its retail banking operations. These include transaction accounts designed for everyday use, such as the Smart Access Account, which incurs no monthly fee for customers under 30 or those depositing at least $2,000 monthly, alongside features for basic banking needs.^[89] Savings options, including the NetBank Saver, offer variable interest rates on balances from $5,000 to under $2 million, with interest paid annually, while term deposits allow customers to lock in fixed rates for periods from one month to five years, providing certainty on returns without setup fees.^[90]^[91] In lending, CBA offers home loans with both variable and fixed rate structures. The Standard Variable Rate Home Loan features competitive rates with options for multiple offset accounts to reduce interest costs, while fixed-rate options, such as the current 4.99% p.a. two-year rate (7.24% p.a. comparison rate as of late 2025), enable borrowers to secure payments against rate fluctuations, with the ability to split loans between fixed and variable portions.^[92]^[93] Personal loans are available in secured or unsecured forms for purposes like vehicle purchases or debt consolidation, with fixed repayment terms and competitive rates, including discounts up to 3.99% p.a. for energy-efficient home improvements without establishment fees.^[94]^[95] Credit cards form another core offering, emphasizing rewards programs like CommBank Awards, where eligible cards earn one point per $1 spent on purchases up to $2,000 per statement period, with unlimited annual points accrual redeemable for travel, gift cards, or cashback equivalents.^[96] Cards such as the Ultimate Awards provide high earn rates and benefits like purchase protection, supporting consumer spending flexibility.^[97] CBA's scale as Australia's largest retail bank contributes to its net interest margin of 2.08% for fiscal year 2025, an increase of 9 basis points from the prior year, driven by efficient funding mixes and operational scale that sustain profitability amid competitive pressures.^[98] This margin reflects advantages from a broad deposit base and lending portfolio, enabling sustained returns for shareholders.^[99]

Digital and Payment Innovations

The Commonwealth Bank launched NetBank, its online banking platform, in February 1997, enabling customers to conduct transactions such as BPAY and inter-bank transfers via the internet.^[100] This service marked an early adoption of digital banking in Australia, predating widespread mobile integration. By 2025, NetBank had evolved into a comprehensive digital ecosystem, with the CommBank mobile app serving over 9 million active users, facilitating features like balance checks, payments, and expense tracking.^[43]^[101] In peer-to-peer payments, the bank introduced Beem It in May 2018 as a free mobile app supporting instant transfers, requests, and bill splitting across any Australian bank account, with daily send limits of $200 and receive limits up to $10,000.^[102]^[103] Beem It leverages linked Visa or Mastercard debit cards for real-time transactions, enhancing convenience without requiring account details.^[104] The bank integrated digital wallets including Apple Pay and Google Pay, allowing customers to add eligible debit and credit cards for contactless in-store and online payments.^[105] These integrations, supported since at least 2021, have positioned digital wallets as a leading payment method, with Commonwealth Bank data indicating they would surpass traditional contactless cards by year-end.^[106] Commonwealth Bank has conducted blockchain trials to innovate payment settlement, including a 2018 collaboration with CSIRO's Data61 on "smart money" for programmable transactions and a 2017 demonstration reducing commodities trade finance time and costs via distributed ledger technology.^[107]^[108] More recently, in July 2025, it partnered with J.P. Morgan and the Reserve Bank of Australia in Project Acacia to test tokenised assets like stablecoins and wholesale CBDCs for funding market efficiency.^[109]^[110] Customer satisfaction with these digital services is evidenced by high Net Promoter Scores, with the CommBank app achieving +30.7 in 2022 and online banking NPS at 12.0 in 2024, outperforming peers and attributed to seamless usability and real-time features.^[111]^[112]

Specialized Financial Services

The Commonwealth Bank offers specialized foreign exchange (FX) services tailored for businesses, including hedging instruments such as forwards, options, and swaps to mitigate currency risks for exporters. These services are detailed in the bank's Foreign Exchange Product Disclosure Statement, updated as of November 10, 2023, which outlines transaction mechanisms without regard to individual client objectives.^[113] The bank's international payments platform facilitates FX risk management alongside trade finance solutions, enabling clients to execute cross-border transactions efficiently.^[114] In commodities and trade finance, the bank's dedicated Commodities, Trade and Carbon team provides integrated risk management, including hedging for base metals, energy, and agricultural products via a 24-hour trading desk operating from Sydney, London, Singapore, and New York. This supports exporters facing global trade volatility, as highlighted in the bank's August 28, 2025, guidance on export strategies emphasizing timely hedging to lock in favorable rates.^[115]^[116] Trade finance offerings extend to letters of credit and supply chain financing, though utilization remains concentrated among institutional clients rather than retail exporters. The Dollarmites program represented a niche youth financial education initiative, embedding basic savings habits through school-based banking deposits and rewards, operational since 1968 until its nationwide cancellation on October 25, 2021. Despite aims to foster early financial literacy, an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) review concluded it delivered limited educational value, prompting state-level bans such as Queensland's in April 2021 and criticisms of exploiting school environments for customer acquisition.^[117]^[118] To adapt specialized services amid fintech disruption, the bank has pursued partnerships enhancing FX and payments efficiency, including a October 6, 2025, collaboration with Dandelion Payments for real-time international transfers, reducing settlement times from days to seconds. Such integrations address competitive pressures from non-bank providers offering lower-cost hedging alternatives.^[119]

Subsidiaries and International Operations

Domestic Australian Subsidiaries

Bankwest, a full-service banking subsidiary headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, was acquired by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) on 8 October 2008 from HBOS for A$2.1 billion, including the life insurance provider St. Andrew's.^[120]^[121] Originally established in 1895 as the Agricultural Bank of Western Australia, Bankwest maintains a distinct brand within the CBA Group, emphasizing retail, business, and rural lending with a strong regional footprint in Western Australia.^[122]^[27] This structure has enabled targeted diversification into state-specific markets, supporting national lending capacity through Bankwest's gross loans and acceptances, which stood at approximately A$59.7 billion as of December 2008 prior to full integration.^[123] As of 2024, Bankwest is transitioning to a fully digital model, redirecting CBA resources for technology and operations support while closing physical branches to streamline costs.^[124] Colonial First State (CFS), focused on wealth management, superannuation, and investments, became a key domestic entity following CBA's merger with Colonial Limited, announced on 10 March 2000 and completed in June 2000 for approximately A$9.4 billion in a share swap (seven CBA shares for every twenty Colonial shares).^[33]^[125] The acquisition integrated CFS's asset management capabilities, which included significant Australian superannuation funds and investment products, enhancing CBA's domestic wealth division without immediate overlap in core banking.^[126] In December 2021, CBA divested a 55% stake in CFS to an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR), retaining 45% ownership and joint influence over operations.^[127] This partial retention sustains CFS's role in CBA's Australian wealth ecosystem, managing billions in assets under administration as of 2025.^[128] Other domestic subsidiaries include CommInsure for life and general insurance, integrated post-Bankwest acquisition, and Commonwealth Securities (CommSec) for online broking and trading services, both operating under CBA oversight to support specialized domestic financial needs.^[120] These entities collectively bolster CBA's Australian operations by segmenting risk across banking, insurance, and investment arms, aiding overall group stability amid regulatory scrutiny on diversification.^[129]

Asia-Pacific and Global Presence

The Commonwealth Bank's international operations are concentrated in New Zealand and selective institutional activities across the Asia-Pacific region, with ASB Bank serving as its principal overseas retail banking subsidiary.^[130] ASB, fully owned by the bank since 2000 following progressive acquisitions starting in 1987, provides comprehensive personal and business banking services to New Zealand customers, including mortgages, deposits, loans, and insurance products.^[131] While ASB operates independently with its own deposit protection under New Zealand regulations, it integrates with the Commonwealth Bank's broader New Zealand branch for corporate, institutional, and transaction banking support.^[132] In the Asia-Pacific, the bank maintains a targeted institutional footprint without retail operations, emphasizing corporate and wholesale services to facilitate cross-border trade and investment.^[133] Branches include Shanghai (established 2010) and Beijing (2013) in China for corporate and institutional banking; Hong Kong (since 1986) offering solutions for multinationals and private banking; Singapore (since 1982) focused on institutional clients and Asian entities expanding into Australia or New Zealand; and a presence in Japan.^[133] These offices support Australian corporates with regional interests and provide global markets, capital markets, and research services, aligning with the bank's role in institutional banking and markets division.^[51] Post-global financial crisis, the Commonwealth Bank adopted a strategy of restraint in international expansion, prioritizing capital strength and stability in its core Australian and New Zealand markets over aggressive overseas growth.^[134] This approach, consistent with broader Australian banking sector responses to heightened regulatory scrutiny and economic volatility, has resulted in a limited global presence centered on high-value institutional relationships rather than broad retail networks. By 2025, this focus supports Australia's economic priorities through selective Asia-Pacific engagements, avoiding the risks of overextension seen in pre-crisis pursuits.^[134]

Financial Performance

Historical Profit Trends

Following the final privatization tranche in July 1996, which ended government ownership, the Commonwealth Bank shifted to private sector incentives, fostering a focus on operational efficiency and profit maximization. Under CEO David Murray from 1992 to 2005, the bank pursued aggressive cost controls and restructuring, reducing the cost-to-income ratio from 62.2% in 1995 toward the low 50s by the early 2000s, which directly bolstered margins.^[135]^[136] This era marked a surge in net profit after tax (NPAT), with annual NPAT climbing 30% to A$1.42 billion for the year ended June 1999 amid loan portfolio expansion and disciplined expense management.^[137] By fiscal 2005, NPAT had more than doubled to A$3.991 billion, a 55% year-over-year increase attributable to these reforms and favorable economic conditions.^[138] Profit trends through the 2000s and 2010s reflected sustained efficiency gains, with return on equity (ROE) improving to averages in the 13-15% range by the late 2010s, driven by ongoing cost discipline and revenue diversification pre-2020.^[139] These improvements enabled consistent dividend growth, with payouts rising in tandem with earnings to support shareholder value.^[140] The bank's profitability trajectory solidified its status as the largest listed entity on the ASX by market capitalization for much of this period, underscoring the causal link between privatization-enabled reforms and long-term financial outperformance.^[141]^[142]

Key Metrics and Shareholder Returns

As of 30 June 2025, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio stood at 12.3%, surpassing the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's (APRA) minimum requirement of 10.25% and providing substantial excess capital relative to Basel III benchmarks, which include a core CET1 minimum of 4.5% plus conservation and countercyclical buffers.^[143] This elevated ratio underscores the bank's balance sheet strength, enabling it to absorb potential losses from economic downturns without recourse to government or taxpayer support, as demonstrated by its navigation of prior crises like the global financial crisis through internal capital generation rather than external bailouts.^[43] The CET1 level also exceeds sector averages among Australian peers, reflecting disciplined risk management and conservative provisioning practices.^[144] CBA's dividend policy emphasizes consistent, fully franked payouts tied to sustainable earnings, with a final dividend of A$2.60 per share declared for the half-year ended 30 June 2025, bringing the full-year distribution to A$4.85 per share and yielding approximately 3.5-4% based on prevailing share prices.^[140]^[53] This approach prioritizes shareholder returns while maintaining capital buffers, often delivering yields that outperform Australian banking sector medians due to the bank's stable deposit franchise and low-cost funding base.^[145] Complementing dividends, CBA actively deploys capital through share buybacks to enhance per-share value and offset dilution from employee incentives. In August 2025, the bank extended its ongoing on-market buy-back program through August 2026, following prior tenders that repurchased billions in shares at discounts to market value, thereby boosting earnings per share and total shareholder returns without compromising regulatory capital ratios.^[146] These combined mechanisms—high CET1 buffers, reliable dividends, and buybacks—position CBA as a resilient institution focused on long-term value creation amid varying economic conditions.^[99]

Recent Fiscal Results (2020–2025)

In fiscal year 2020, Commonwealth Bank reported a cash net profit after tax (NPAT) of A$7.3 billion from continuing operations, reflecting elevated provisions for credit impairments amid the COVID-19 pandemic's economic disruptions.^[147] Profits rebounded strongly in subsequent years as pandemic restrictions eased and lending volumes expanded. By FY2022, cash NPAT reached A$9.595 billion, an 11% increase driven by operational efficiencies and growth in core retail and business lending segments.^[148] In FY2023, NPAT totaled A$10.1 billion, benefiting from sustained customer demand and initial margin gains from Reserve Bank of Australia rate hikes commencing mid-2022. FY2024 saw cash NPAT of A$9.836 billion, a modest 2% rise tempered by competitive pressures and higher funding costs.^[45] FY2025 marked a record performance with cash NPAT climbing 4% to A$10.252 billion, supported by 6.1% growth in total lending to A$934 billion, including a 6% expansion in home loans to A$634 billion (adding approximately A$38 billion in balances).^[43] ^[149] This occurred against a backdrop of elevated interest rates, which lifted the net interest margin by 9 basis points to 2.08%, though the bank faced regulatory and public scrutiny over lending practices and impairment expense management during household cost-of-living strains.^[53] ^[150] To navigate anticipated economic volatility from global factors and structural shifts, CBA refreshed its strategy in FY2025, prioritizing investments in technology and customer-centric growth to underpin lending support while maintaining capital strength, with a common equity tier 1 ratio of 12.3%.^[43]^[53]

Innovation and Technology

Digital Transformation Initiatives

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has pursued an aggressive shift toward digital banking platforms since the early 2010s, prioritizing the development of its CommBank mobile app as the primary interface for retail and business customers. This initiative includes seamless integration of core services such as account management, payments, and lending applications directly into the app, reducing dependence on physical branches and call centers. By fiscal year 2023, digital transactions constituted 75% of total transactions by value, reflecting substantial customer migration to online channels amid ongoing investments exceeding hundreds of millions annually in technology infrastructure.^[151]^[45] Central to this transformation is the strategic use of customer data analytics to enable personalized banking experiences, such as tailored product recommendations and customized financial insights derived from transaction histories and behavioral patterns. CBA's data-driven approach aggregates anonymized usage data from digital interactions to refine service delivery, allowing for dynamic adjustments like real-time spending alerts and predictive budgeting tools. This personalization has directly correlated with elevated customer engagement metrics, including longer app session times—up 20% for users of enhanced features—and higher digitally active customer proportions, fostering loyalty through perceived relevance and convenience.^[42]^[152]^[153] These digital initiatives have yielded measurable operational efficiencies, with the high volume of online transactions lowering per-transaction servicing costs compared to legacy channels and contributing to sustained customer retention by minimizing friction in routine banking tasks. Empirical evidence from CBA's internal analytics links this digital maturity to reduced churn rates, as customers accustomed to intuitive platforms exhibit lower attrition; for instance, app-centric users demonstrate sustained activity levels that support long-term relationship profitability. Overall, the causal pathway from platform investments to cost discipline and retention underscores CBA's competitive positioning in a market where digital adoption directly influences scalability and margins.^[151]^[154]^[153]

AI Adoption and Maturity

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) advanced to fourth place globally and first in the Asia-Pacific region in the 2025 Evident AI Index, which assesses banking institutions on AI strategy, governance, data management, and technology implementation. This represents a rise from fifth place in 2024, driven by strengths in responsible AI frameworks that emphasize ethical governance and practical deployment over speculative applications.^[155]^[156] CBA integrates AI for fraud detection through partnerships, including with OpenAI to refine algorithms for identifying suspicious activities and delivering tailored customer protections. The bank also deploys AI-driven bots via Apate.ai to interact with scammers in near real-time, collecting intelligence on emerging threats and disrupting operations without relying on human intervention for initial responses.^[157]^[158] Customer-facing AI includes the Bumblebee chatbot, rolled out in July 2025 to manage routine inquiries, which prompted an initial plan to cut 45 call center positions. By August 2025, CBA reversed this amid higher-than-expected call volumes and integration issues, reinstating the roles and acknowledging the error, thereby avoiding premature job displacement while iterating on AI's supportive role.^[159]^[160] Investments in responsible AI, guided by six internal principles for system governance and including widespread upskilling programs, have enabled efficiency gains in operations like dispute resolution and personalization, fostering scalable benefits without imposing overly restrictive self-regulation that could hinder innovation.^[161]^[162]

Operational Reliability and Challenges

On October 2, 2025, Commonwealth Bank of Australia experienced a significant service outage lasting approximately three hours, from around 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. AEST, which disrupted access to its mobile app, online banking platform (NetBank), payment processing, and ATM functionality for many customers.^[163]^[164] The incident occurred amid broader regulatory scrutiny, coinciding with a Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) warning on the reliability risks of digital banking infrastructure.^[165] Services were progressively restored by early afternoon, with the bank issuing apologies and confirming that core operations, including payments and ATMs, were back online by 12:45 p.m. AEST.^[166] The outage's cause was under investigation by the bank, with no immediate attribution to cyber threats or external failures like the subsequent AWS cloud disruption that affected other sectors but spared CBA.^[167] A smaller EFTPOS-related issue emerged on October 25, 2025, prompting temporary disruptions that were resolved in collaboration with payment providers, highlighting ongoing dependencies on third-party systems.^[168] Such events underscore vulnerabilities in highly digitized banking operations, where even brief interruptions can impact millions of users, though CBA's quick recovery aligned with industry expectations for major institutions.^[163] In response to reliability and security challenges, including past incidents and rising cyber threats, CBA allocated over $900 million in the fiscal year ending June 2025 to bolster defenses against fraud, scams, and cyberattacks, encompassing enhanced monitoring and resilience measures.^[162] These investments reflect a broader sector trend, as Australian banks face escalating digital risks comparable to global peers, with regulators like the RBA emphasizing the need for robust contingency planning without singling out CBA as an outlier.^[164]

Economic Contributions

Role in Australian Economic Development

The privatization of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), initiated in 1991 and completed by 1996, marked a pivotal shift from state ownership to a fully private entity, fostering a more competitive and efficient financial sector unencumbered by government directives that could distort capital allocation.^[30]^[5] This transition generated $8.1 billion in proceeds for the government, the largest from any finance sector privatization at the time, which helped reduce public debt and enabled reallocation of resources toward productive economic activities.^[30] Empirical analyses indicate that the privatization enhanced CBA's operational performance, including improved profitability and cost efficiency, while spurring rivals to innovate, thereby broadening access to credit for households and firms without the inefficiencies of state intervention.^[169] As Australia's largest bank by market capitalization and loan portfolio, CBA plays a central role in channeling credit to sustain economic stability and expansion, with its lending decisions guided by market signals rather than political priorities. In fiscal year 2025, CBA extended $42 billion in new loans to businesses, supporting employment and export-oriented sectors critical to GDP growth.^[10] This scale of private-sector lending—comprising a significant portion of the nation's total credit extension—facilitates capital investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, and services, contributing to Australia's post-privatization financial deepening, where the banking sector's assets relative to GDP rose markedly in the ensuing decades.^[6] Post-privatization data underscore CBA's causal link to broader economic development, as the bank's growth correlated with heightened competition that lowered intermediation costs and expanded financial inclusion, indirectly bolstering GDP through efficient resource mobilization. Studies of the event confirm positive intra-industry effects, with CBA's privatization prompting efficiency gains across peers, enhancing overall sector resilience and credit availability during growth phases.^[32] This private-market orientation has positioned CBA as a key enabler of Australia's transition to a services-led economy, where stable, distortion-free banking underpins sustained productivity without reliance on fiscal backstops.^[169]

Lending and Support for Businesses

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) facilitates enterprise growth through targeted business lending, with its portfolio expanding 12.2% in fiscal year 2025, surpassing national banking system averages and contributing to a record annual profit of A$10.25 billion.^[149] This growth included A$42 billion in new loans to businesses, supporting operational expansion across sectors.^[10] CBA's Institutional Banking and Markets division, which underwrites much of this activity, generated A$1.224 billion in contributions for the year, underscoring its role in capital deployment.^[43] In agribusiness, CBA provides specialized financing that bolsters regional economies by enabling farm investments and resilience. The bank's Agri Green Loan product, introduced in late 2022, has financed over A$56 million in emissions-reducing assets, such as climate-adaptive equipment, thereby enhancing productivity in rural areas prone to environmental variability.^[170] Complementary offerings, including asset finance for machinery like tractors and irrigation systems, align with market signals for sustainable practices, driving innovation as tracked in CBA's Regional Agri Insights reports on investment intentions and regional business health.^[171] These loans sustain employment and output in agriculture-dependent communities, where private assessment of viability ensures funds flow to operations demonstrating repayment capacity over subsidized alternatives. CBA's support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) emphasizes accessible credit and tools to navigate economic pressures, with business lending to this segment rising 9.1% in early 2025.^[172] The CommBank Yello for Business program, expanded in March 2025 to over 340,000 SME customers, delivers fee waivers, cashback, and recognition rewards tied to transaction volume, reducing operational costs amid rising inputs.^[173] Additional initiatives, such as digital fast-track approvals for equipment finance and tailored cash flow management courses launched in January 2025, streamline funding for working capital and assets, enabling SMEs to scale without bureaucratic delays.^[174]^[175] Through institutional lending, CBA finances Australian infrastructure projects, prioritizing those with strong commercial returns and alignment to low-carbon transitions under its Green, Social, and Sustainability Funding Framework.^[176] This includes debt for transport and energy assets, such as sustainability-linked loans that tie rates to environmental performance metrics, facilitating upgrades in roads, rail, and renewables without reliance on public guarantees. In the resources sector, CBA's approach conditions financing on transition plans, halting support for oil, gas, or coal producers lacking credible decarbonization strategies from January 2025 onward, thereby channeling capital toward viable, lower-risk ventures.^[177] Market-driven allocation by CBA contrasts with government-directed programs by evaluating projects on empirical risk-return profiles, avoiding distortions from political priorities and directing funds to enterprises that generate sustained economic value, as evidenced by the bank's outperformance in lending growth relative to peers.^[178]

Financial Literacy and Community Programs

The Commonwealth Bank has operated several financial literacy programs targeted at schools and the broader public, with Start Smart serving as a primary initiative since its inception. This program delivers interactive workshops on topics such as budgeting, earning, saving, and protecting against scams, reaching over 550,000 students annually across more than 2,000 Australian schools as of recent reports.^[179] An independent impact evaluation in 2020 found that 94% of participating students rated the sessions as engaging, with notable increases in self-reported confidence in areas like workplace rights and financial decision-making.^[180] Historically, the bank's Dollarmites school banking scheme, launched decades ago and discontinued nationwide in 2022 following state-level bans and regulatory scrutiny, aimed to foster saving habits among primary school children through weekly deposits and basic financial education materials.^[117] However, a 2020 review by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) concluded there was no verifiable evidence of improved financial literacy outcomes from such bank-run programs, amid concerns over potential fee erosion of small deposits and conflicts of interest in promoting banking loyalty over neutral education.^[181] In response to evolving needs, the bank has shifted toward non-proprietary offerings, including free public seminars on financial wellbeing, with over half emphasizing fraud prevention and scam awareness as of 2024.^[182] Complementing literacy efforts, the bank's community programs include the CommBank Staff Foundation's annual Community Grants, which in 2024 distributed $3.5 million to 175 organizations at $20,000 each, prioritizing projects addressing disadvantage and regional needs such as housing support and youth services.^[183] The Community Donation Program enables local branches to allocate $500 grants to grassroots groups, while a dedicated regional initiative awarded $2 million in $10,000 grants to community organizations in 2022, focusing on infrastructure and economic stability in rural areas.^[184]^[185] These efforts, drawn from staff-nominated causes, have supported over 100 regional projects annually, though quantifiable links to broader customer financial outcomes remain primarily self-reported through program evaluations rather than longitudinal studies.^[186]

Regulatory Issues and Controversies

Environmental and Sustainability Disputes

In 2018, environmental advocacy groups criticized the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) for its significant lending to fossil fuel expansion, totaling $4 billion that year, positioning it as a major financier of coal, oil, and gas projects amid global calls to limit emissions.^[187] Groups such as Market Forces labeled CBA the "worst offender" among Australian banks for such financing, arguing it undermined Paris Agreement goals by supporting high-emission activities without adequate transition safeguards.^[188] These critiques highlighted CBA's exposure to thermal coal mining and upstream oil and gas, with portfolio analyses showing elevated financed emissions compared to international peers like European banks that had earlier restricted such lending.^[189] Shareholder lawsuits in 2017 accused CBA of greenwashing by inadequately disclosing climate-related risks in its annual reports, claiming violations of the Corporations Act for omitting material threats from stranded fossil fuel assets and regulatory shifts.^[190] In 2021, the Federal Court granted investors access to internal documents to investigate potential misleading conduct, enabling scrutiny of whether CBA's public sustainability commitments aligned with its lending practices.^[191] Activists contended that CBA's early climate policies, introduced around 2017, lacked enforceable restrictions on new fossil fuel projects, allowing continued funding despite rhetorical support for net-zero targets.^[192] CBA responded with policy tightening post-2018, reducing fossil fuel lending to $267 million in 2022—a 92% drop from 2018 levels—and slightly to $271 million in 2023, outpacing peers in Australia's big four banks, which collectively cut such exposure by over 20% from 2022 to 2024.^[187]^[193] In August 2024, CBA announced it would cease financing oil and gas producers or metallurgical coal miners lacking Paris-aligned transition plans effective January 2025, extending prior restrictions on thermal coal and Arctic drilling.^[194]^[195] This shift aimed to align lending with net-zero by 2050, though critics from groups like Market Forces argued it still permitted financing for compliant firms, potentially prolonging fossil fuel reliance during energy transitions where abrupt defunding could disrupt supply chains and economic stability without viable low-emission alternatives.^[189] CBA's financed emissions reporting, per its 2024 Climate Report, showed progress in sector-level reductions, but independent benchmarks indicated Australia's banks, including CBA, lagged behind global counterparts in absolute decarbonization of energy portfolios.^[196]

Financial Scandals and Customer Impacts

In 2008, whistleblower Jeff Morris exposed widespread misconduct in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA) financial planning division, where advisers provided inappropriate recommendations driven by a sales-oriented culture prioritizing bonuses over client interests, resulting in significant customer losses estimated in the millions of dollars.^[197]^[198] This scandal involved churning investments and unsuitable products, exacerbating vulnerabilities in an industry where conflicted remuneration structures incentivized poor advice, as later highlighted by parliamentary inquiries.^[199] CBA responded with internal reforms, including management changes and enhanced compliance, though critics noted persistent issues until broader regulatory scrutiny.^[198] In 2014, CEO Ian Narev issued an unreserved apology to affected customers and committed to remediation, amid Senate calls for a royal commission into the fraud.^[200] In 2016, two CBA employees were implicated in a $76 million Ponzi scheme orchestrated by external fraudsters, where staff allegedly accepted secret commissions for processing loans backed by forged documents, enabling the scam that defrauded investors and eroded trust in the bank's oversight.^[201]^[202] The scheme's architects faced criminal charges, but customer impacts included financial losses from the fraudulent investments, underscoring vulnerabilities in branch-level verification processes within a high-volume lending environment.^[203] CBA's internal investigations led to staff dismissals and procedural tightenings, though the incident reflected broader industry risks from insider collusion rather than systemic policy failures.^[204] CBA's CommInsure life insurance arm faced allegations of mis-selling and claim denials through tactics such as reinterpreting medical definitions to exclude coverage, affecting policyholders who paid premiums but received no benefits, as revealed in a 2016 investigative report.^[205] Subsequent inquiries confirmed widespread issues, including selling credit card insurance to 64,000 ineligible customers and non-compliant unsolicited sales, leading to guilty pleas on 87 counts and over $12 million in refunds for unfair practices.^[206]^[207] In 2021, CBA admitted to 30 criminal charges for misleading representations in consumer credit insurance sales to 165 customers, prompting further compensations and highlighting conflicts in vertically integrated banking-insurance models.^[208] Remediation efforts included policy reviews, customer repayments, and eventual divestment of the insurance business, amid industry-wide recognition that such practices stemmed from profit pressures over ethical underwriting.^[209]

Compliance Failures and Penalties

In June 2018, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) agreed to pay a civil penalty of $700 million to AUSTRAC, Australia's financial intelligence unit, for systemic breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act).^[11] The breaches involved 53,716 failures to report threshold transactions exceeding A$10,000, primarily through the bank's intelligent deposit machines (IDMs), which allowed over A$624.7 million in cash deposits without adequate customer identification or verification processes.^[11] Additionally, CBA failed to file 25 required suspicious matter reports and delayed 29,707 others, stemming from inadequate transaction monitoring and risk assessment systems that did not flag high-risk activities effectively.^[67] These lapses exposed vulnerabilities to money laundering, as IDMs enabled anonymous large-scale cash handling without the due diligence required for traditional teller transactions.^[11] Separately, in 2018, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigated CBA's bank bill swap rate (BBSW) trading practices, alleging manipulation to influence benchmark interest rates for profit.^[210] ASIC claimed CBA traders influenced BBSW panels on three occasions between 2007 and 2008 by executing trades intended to affect the rate, potentially harming wholesale clients and market integrity.^[210] The matter settled via a court-enforceable undertaking, with CBA paying a $5 million penalty, contributing $15 million to a financial consumer protection fund, and $5 million toward ASIC's costs, while acknowledging attempted unconscionable conduct but not admitting full liability.^[211] Following the AUSTRAC resolution, CBA undertook mandated remediation, including enhanced automated transaction monitoring systems to detect and report suspicious activities more promptly, particularly for cash-intensive operations.^[67] The bank also strengthened customer due diligence protocols, restricted IDM functionalities for high-risk deposits, and invested in staff training and compliance technology to address root causes like outdated legacy systems and insufficient risk-based oversight.^[67] These measures formed part of enforceable undertakings, aiming to prevent recurrence by integrating real-time alerts and periodic AUSTRAC audits into core operations.^[11]

Operational and Ethical Challenges

In July 2025, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) prompted major banks to refund approximately $60 million in excessive fees charged to low-income customers, following an investigation into high-fee accounts that disproportionately affected vulnerable groups.^[212] While competitors such as Westpac, ANZ, and Bendigo Bank committed to repayments totaling around $93 million industry-wide for over 920,000 affected customers, Commonwealth Bank refused to issue refunds estimated at $270 million for more than two million low-income account holders.^[213] CBA maintained that its fee structures complied with regulatory standards and that prior process improvements had addressed the issues identified by ASIC, though critics, including consumer group CHOICE, argued the bank's stance prioritized profits over restitution amid record earnings.^[214] Public polling indicated 88% of Australians believed CBA should refund the fees, highlighting perceptions of ethical lapses in equitable treatment of low-balance customers.^[215] CBA's operational challenges extended to workforce reductions driven by efficiency initiatives, including a July 2025 announcement to eliminate 45 customer service roles in favor of an AI-powered "voice-bot" chatbot, intended to streamline call center operations.^[216] The decision faced immediate backlash from unions and staff, who cited inadequate consultation and risks to service quality, with the Finance Sector Union emphasizing the need for retraining over redundancies.^[159] However, by August 2025, CBA reversed the cuts, admitting an "error" in assessments after the AI rollout unexpectedly increased call volumes, underscoring miscalculations in automation's short-term impacts versus long-term efficiency gains.^[160] This backflip reflected broader tensions between technological cost-saving drives—aimed at reducing overstaffing in a high-margin sector—and empirical evidence of persistent operational demands, as similar AI implementations elsewhere led to hybrid models rather than wholesale replacements.^[217] Further job cuts compounded these issues, with CBA announcing 108 redundancies across divisions in October 2025, contributing to staff reports of "panic mode" amid ongoing offshoring admissions to India and Vietnam.^[218] Unions critiqued the moves as exacerbating workloads and service gaps, particularly when paired with ethical concerns over prioritizing shareholder returns—evident in CBA's sustained profitability—over employee stability and customer-facing reliability.^[219] Proponents of the efficiencies argued that banking's competitive landscape necessitated lean operations to avoid overstaffing inefficiencies, supported by data showing AI's potential to handle routine queries without proportional error rates in scaled deployments.^[220]

Sponsorships and Public Engagement

Sports and Cultural Sponsorships

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) maintains prominent sponsorships in sports, primarily focused on soccer through its longstanding partnership with Football Australia, which has served as the bank's flagship for brand exposure to diverse demographics. Since 2021, CommBank has held naming rights for the Australian women's national team, branded as the CommBank Matildas, marking it as the largest investor in women's soccer in the country at the time.^[221] In June 2025, the bank announced a six-year extension to 2031, valued at an estimated AU$60 million, incorporating naming rights for the men's national team (CommBank Socceroos) from September 2025, as well as youth championships, para-teams like the CommBank Pararoos and ParaMatildas, and grassroots programs such as Coles MiniRoos for children aged 4-11.^[222]^[223] This deal builds on a prior four-year agreement and emphasizes visibility across elite and community levels, with Football Australia reporting a 27% rise in women's and girls' participation since 2021.^[222] The soccer partnerships deliver strategic value through heightened brand recognition, particularly amplified by the Matildas' semi-final run at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, which executives described as yielding "huge dividends" in awareness and customer engagement.^[224] Initial annual commitments of AU$1-2 million escalated in perceived value post-World Cup, with reports indicating potential five-fold increases in renewal costs due to surging demand, underscoring return on investment via global media exposure and alignment with growing female sports audiences.^[225]^[226] CommBank also leverages the CommBank Stadium in Parramatta for sports events, enhancing regional visibility in Western Sydney's diverse communities.^[221] Prior to its 2024 termination after 37 years, the bank's Cricket Australia deal similarly targeted broad audience reach, though soccer now dominates its sports portfolio.^[227] In cultural sponsorships, CommBank positions itself as a supporter of innovative festivals blending arts, technology, and ideas. It served as a super sponsor for SXSW Sydney 2024, held from October 14-20, facilitating the event's return to Australia and targeting creative industries for brand alignment.^[228] Additionally, the bank backed Vivid Sydney, Australia's largest festival of lights, music, and ideas, with CommBank Careers sponsoring the 2022 edition (May 27-June 18) and CommBank Indigenous Careers presenting Tumbalong Nights in 2023, featuring First Nations artists to promote cultural programming.^[229]^[230] These initiatives extend the CommBank Stadium's role beyond sports to host cultural and entertainment events, aiming to foster community connections and visibility among urban, innovation-driven audiences.^[221]

Philanthropic and Community Initiatives

The CommBank Staff Foundation, established as the bank's workplace giving arm, matches employee donations dollar-for-dollar to eligible charities, with the bank covering all operational costs to ensure full pass-through of funds.^[231] This program facilitates contributions to causes in education, health, and community welfare, drawing on employee nominations to direct support.^[232] In 2024, the Foundation's Community Grants initiative distributed $3.5 million to 175 Australian organizations, providing $20,000 each for projects enhancing youth well-being and local services, such as emergency relief and educational excursions for disadvantaged students.^[183] Complementing this, the Community Donation Program enables local branches to allocate $500 grants to grassroots groups, with over hundreds of such awards annually supporting immediate community needs like food security and family support.^[186] These efforts prioritize non-profit partners verified for impact, though outcomes depend on recipient execution rather than bank oversight.^[184] Employee engagement includes unlimited paid volunteering leave, pro bono skilled services for non-profits, and secondment opportunities, allowing staff to contribute expertise in areas like financial administration without direct business gain.^[233] ^[234] Such programs, while fostering employee morale, align with broader corporate reputation management, as evidenced by sustained participation rates amid public scrutiny of banking practices.^[235] No independent audits of long-term philanthropic ROI are publicly detailed, but grant recipients report targeted improvements in service delivery.^[236]

References

[1]
Top 10 Biggest Banks in Australia by Asset Size in 2025 - Fiskil blog
Mar 31, 2025 · In this post, we explore the top 10 biggest banks in Australia based on their asset size in 2025. 1. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).
[2]
10 Biggest Banks in Australia: October 2025 - Savings.com.au
Who's the biggest? Compare market cap, asset and deposit sizes of banks such as CommBank, Westpac, NAB, ANZ, Macquarie, ING and more.
[3]
Our company - CommBank
**Key Facts about Commonwealth Bank of Australia:**
[4]
History of Australia's Central Bank - Unreserved
Milestones in the Bank's History In 1911, legislation established the Commonwealth Bank of Australia through the Commonwealth Bank Act. The Bank opened for ...
[5]
History - 1991 onwards - CommBank
CommBank's privatization began in 1991, first customer service contact center opened in 1993, NetBank launched in 1997, and the first website launched in 1995.Missing: key | Show results with:key
[6]
The privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is a ...
May 27, 2024 · The CBA privatisation, from 1991-1996, was driven by economic efficiency, fiscal policy, and a shift in ALP ideology, and was a significant ...Missing: key | Show results with:key
[7]
Commonwealth Bank | CBA - Assets - Trading Economics
Commonwealth Bank reported AUD1.35T in Assets for its fiscal semester ending in June of 2025. Data for Commonwealth Bank | CBA - Assets including historical ...
[8]
Commonwealth Bank of Australia - Company Profile Report
In 2025 the company generated total revenue of $70,694,000,000 including sales and other revenue. In 2025 Commonwealth Bank of Australia had 51,346 employees ...
[9]
2025 Full Year Results Presentation - Commonwealth Bank (ASX ...
Aug 13, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) is one of the leading banks in Australia, serving more than 16 million customers with a focus on providing retail...
[10]
[PDF] CBA 2025 Full Year Results Presentation
Jun 25, 2025 · CBA provided 139,000+ payment arrangements, helped 140,000+ households buy homes, lent $42B to businesses, paid $22B in interest, and returned ...
[11]
AUSTRAC and CBA agree $700m penalty
Jun 4, 2018 · AUSTRAC and CBA agree $700m penalty · it failed to carry out an appropriate assessment of the money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) ...
[12]
Commonwealth Bank to pay $700m fine for anti-money laundering ...
Jun 3, 2018 · The Commonwealth Bank has agreed to pay the biggest fine in Australian corporate history for breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing ...
[13]
[PDF] No. 18 of 1911. - AustLII
An Act to provide for a Commonwealth Bank. [Assented 'to 22nd December, 1911.] BE it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate,.
[14]
Commonwealth Bank Act 1911 - Parliamentary Education Office
The Commonwealth Bank Act 1911 created Australia's first national bank, which was also the first Australian bank to have both a savings and trading business.
[15]
King O'Malley - Reserve Bank of Australia Museum
King O'Malley was a significant figure in the initiative to create a national bank with central banking responsibilities in Australia.
[16]
27 Oct 1911 - COMMONWEALTH BANK BILL - Trove
CAPITAL OF £1,000,000. ?The -long- promised Bill -to establish. a ... bank may be established outside Aue. tralia, and the bank may act as agent.
[17]
Research Guide: The Commonwealth Bank of Australia - 1911–1959
The Bank opened for business in Melbourne, at the time the temporary seat of power of the Federal Government, on 15 July 1912 under its first Governor, Denison ...
[18]
Commonwealth Bank head offices through the years
Nov 11, 2020 · From day one, customers could also use a network of 489 post offices which acted as agencies for the bank. 1916-1960: 120 Pitt Street ...
[19]
16 Jul 1912 - COMMONWEALTH BANK. - Trove
The Commonwealth Bank opened its Savings Bank department yesterday, when business was commenced at 85 agencies in Melbouren and suburbs, and 401 ...
[20]
Origins of the Reserve Bank of Australia | Explainer | Education | RBA
1991: The Commonwealth Banking Corporation is privatised and becomes known as the Commonwealth Bank. 1998: The Reserve Bank's banking supervision function is ...Missing: milestones | Show results with:milestones
[21]
A Brief History | RBA
In 1911, the first Commonwealth Bank Act gave the Bank only the ordinary functions of commercial banking; the Bank did not specifically have a central banking ...
[22]
[PDF] Central Bank Independence Ben Rees B. Econ; M. Lit. (econ.)
In Australia, the Commonwealth Bank assumed control of the fixed exchange rate late in 1931. However, not all was plain sailing during the Great Depression.
[23]
History 1911 - 1990 - CommBank
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia was founded under the Commonwealth Bank Act 1911. The organisation was empowered to conduct both savings and general ...Missing: capital | Show results with:capital
[24]
CBA at war: Financing the war
Nov 11, 2020 · The Commonwealth Bank played a significant role in helping fund the war efforts, promoting fund-raising campaigns and advertising the bonds.
[25]
Separation – the Commonwealth Bank and the creation of the RBA
This Act, allowed for the creation of a new bank, called the Commonwealth Banking Corporation, which would be a commercial bank only. The central bank functions ...
[26]
History 1960 - 1991 - CommBank
Diversification. During the 1970s, our operations expanded into home insurance and travel (1974) and the following year, we formed our own finance company, ...
[27]
Commonwealth Bank - Companies History
Mar 14, 2024 · The bank opened its first branch in Melbourne on 15 July 1912.In an ... At the beginning of 2008, Commonwealth Bank opened a branch in Ho Chi Minh ...
[28]
https://www.treasury.gov.au/publication/economic-roundup-summer-2003-04/globalisation-the-role-of-institution-building-in-the-financial-sector
[29]
Strategy Study: The Commonwealth Bank Growth Story
Nov 25, 2022 · The 1990s led to a complete transformation of CBA. Starting in 1991, the Australian Government began the privatization process of CBA, which ...Missing: milestones | Show results with:milestones
[30]
Privatisation in Australia | Bulletin – December 1997 | RBA
Privatisation in Australia started in earnest with the sale of the first tranche of the Commonwealth Bank in 1991, an enterprise already operating in a ...
[31]
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) Share Price
www.commbank.com.au. Registry, MUFG Corporate Markets. Auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Date Listed, 12 Sep 1991. Upcoming Calendar (Forecasted). Date, Event ...
[32]
Intra-industry effects of bank privatization: A clinical analysis of the ...
Also, the CBA has not only been very efficient in reducing cost and improving its profitability in the post-privatization period, it has outperformed its rivals ...
[33]
History - Amalgamations - CommBank
1931 · State Savings Bank of Western Australia (1926-1931) incorporating: Government Savings Bank of WA (1906-1926) which had previously incorporated Post Office ...
[34]
Appendix 2: Australian Banks – 1980 to 1990 | Submissions
January 1991, Commonwealth Bank of Australia merged with State Bank of Victoria. ; Commonwealth Development Bank converted by legislation to a subsidiary of ...Missing: date | Show results with:date
[35]
The Australian Financial System in the 1990s | Conference – 2000
This paper examines the major developments in the Australian financial system over the 1990s and discusses how these developments might affect the nature and ...
[36]
Australia's CBA to buy HBOS's BankWest for $1.5 bln | Reuters
Oct 8, 2008 · The acquisition of BankWest would boost CBA's earnings per share immediately, and create annual pre-tax cost synergies estimated to be at 20-25 ...Missing: 2001-2025 | Show results with:2001-2025
[37]
Commonwealth Bank of Australia agrees to acquire HBOS' two ...
Buying BankWest would help Commonwealth Bank to get a clear market lead in BankWest's fast growing home state of Western Australia, and increase its overall ...Missing: growth | Show results with:growth
[38]
[PDF] The Global Credit Crisis: Why Have Australian Banks Been So ...
This paper identifies a number of key factors that explain the remarkable resilience of the Australian banking sector in the face of the Global Financial Crisis ...
[39]
Why Did Australia Fare So Well in the Global Financial Crisis?
Feb 7, 2013 · ... no such bailouts in either Australia or Canada. For many, the stock answer as to why Australia fared so well during the crisis was that it ...Missing: Commonwealth 2008<|separator|>
[40]
The Regulatory Response to the Global Financial Crisis | Submissions
Mar 1, 2014 · This Chapter outlines the progress of regulatory reforms to address these shortcomings, with separate sections on the international and domestic responses.
[41]
CBA accelerates digital strategy to give customers global best ...
The Bank is accelerating its digital strategy with an ambition to provide customers with one of the best digital experiences of any company globally.
[42]
Commonwealth Bank of Australia – Digital Transformation Strategies
Sep 30, 2024 · CBA is leveraging data, AI, machine learning, and advanced technology to deliver personalized and integrated digital experiences for customers.Missing: 2021-2025 | Show results with:2021-2025
[43]
[PDF] CBA 2025 Annual Report
Aug 13, 2025 · We have continued to support our customers and communities through changing economic conditions, while keeping the Bank safe and strong. As we ...
[44]
https://www.commbank.com.au/articles/newsroom/2025/10/luke-yeaman-new-economic-era.html
[45]
[PDF] CBA 2024 Annual Report
Aug 14, 2024 · We are Australia's largest bank, serving more than. 17 million customers. We provide retail and commercial banking services predominantly in ...
[46]
[PDF] CBA Annual Review 2025
Sep 14, 2025 · Investment spend focused on strategic growth and productivity initiatives, including product and service innovation, digital enhancements, the ...
[47]
Home loans, interest rates, calculators & offers - CommBank
Awarded Canstar's Bank of the Year for First Home Buyers and Digital Banking in 2025, CommBank offers flexible home loan features to suit your needs.Home loan interest rates · Home loan calculators and tools · Fixed Rate · BankingMissing: branches | Show results with:branches
[48]
Corporate & institutional transaction banking - CommBank
Our comprehensive payments and cash management solutions are designed to simplify your financial operations, improve cash flow and make payments safe and ...
[49]
We are Institutional Banking & Markets - Careers at CommBank
IB&M is CommBank's primary face to the market for all complex financing and advisory functions. We look after both corporate and major government clients.
[50]
Australian challenges and opportunities in developing a critical ...
Nov 26, 2024 · In 2024, mining technology company Chrysos Corporation received $95 million in Green Loan funding from CommBank for international expansion of ...
[51]
Institutional banking & markets - CommBank
CommBank provides Australia's leading companies with the tools and financial solutions they need to maintain a competitive edge.Explore transaction banking · Client solutions · CommBank iQ
[52]
North America - CommBank
Located in New York, the Commonwealth Bank in America offers a comprehensive range of financial services to Australian and New Zealand corporate and ...Missing: consumer | Show results with:consumer
[53]
Australia's CBA posts record annual profit, but investors shed pricey ...
Aug 13, 2025 · CBA, which underwrites a quarter of Australia's A$2.2 trillion mortgage market, saw its home and business lending grow 6.1% and 12.2%, ...
[54]
Business banking gains have CBA investors awaiting a bumper ...
Aug 10, 2025 · CBA, which remains the dominant mortgage lender, has grown its share of business loans – a target area for chief executive Matt Comyn – to 18.9 ...
[55]
Commonwealth Bank rides high on business bank lending
Aug 15, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank's aggressive push into business lending has paid off, with the division now generating 40 per cent of the group's profits ...
[56]
CBA announces agreement to sell 55% stake in Colonial First State ...
May 13, 2020 · Commonwealth Bank of Australia has entered into an agreement with KKR to sell a 55% interest in Colonial First State, implying a total valuation on a 100% ...Missing: integration | Show results with:integration
[57]
KKR to invest $430m in Colonial after CBA split - AFR
Dec 1, 2021 · The new private equity-controlled Colonial First State will invest $430 million upgrading its archaic systems to better compete with the ...
[58]
Investing & Super - CommBank
Explore our extensive range of super and investment options and how to plan for the future with expert financial advice.Commonwealth Direct... · Financial advice · Everyday Investing · Essential SuperMissing: robo- | Show results with:robo-
[59]
Commonwealth Private launches self-directed investment offering ...
Aug 5, 2025 · Commonwealth Private Limited has launched Private Wealth Advantage, a self-directed investment option for wholesale investors. The offering ...
[60]
CBA chases Australia's millionaires for wealth comeback - AFR
Aug 4, 2025 · Lured by the sticky honeypot of fees, the bank is targeting Australians with up to $30 million in investible assets and who are looking for ...Missing: current | Show results with:current
[61]
[PDF] Prudential Inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank of Australia ... - APRA
Apr 30, 2018 · CommInsure, CBA's insurance subsidiary, in its retail advice life insurance products came under intense media scrutiny in 2016. CommInsure had.
[62]
Completion of divestment of Australian life insurance business
Apr 1, 2021 · CBA has now received approximately $2.4 billion of aggregate proceeds in relation to the divestment of CommInsure Life, including the receipt of ...
[63]
Hollard completes acquisition of CommInsure
Sep 30, 2022 · The transaction includes an exclusive 15-year strategic alliance between CBA and Hollard to distribute home and motor lines of business to CBA's ...
[64]
Commonwealth Bank of Australia - Fortune
Jul 29, 2025 · Number of employees:48,887. Figures are for fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. Figures prepared in accordance with International Accounting ...<|separator|>
[65]
[PDF] CBA Annual Review 2024
Oct 16, 2024 · Our Annual. Report includes information on CBA's strategic priorities, risk management and corporate governance, as well as our financial and ...<|separator|>
[66]
Corporate governance - CommBank
The Group Risk Management Framework covers the systems, structures, policies, processes and people that identify, measure, evaluate, monitor, report and control ...
[67]
CBA and AUSTRAC resolve AML/CTF proceedings
Jun 4, 2018 · CBA and AUSTRAC resolve AML/CTF proceedings · CBA will pay a civil penalty of $700 million together with AUSTRAC's legal costs of $2.5 million.<|separator|>
[68]
CBA's IT services expenses track back over $2bn mark - iTnews
Aug 9, 2023 · The Commonwealth Bank's IT services expenses went back over $2 billion over the past year as cloud use and software costs increased, and the bank insourced ...
[69]
CommBank accelerates AI integration with major data migration to ...
Jun 4, 2025 · CommBank has completed migrating its data platform to Amazon Web Services (AWS), its preferred cloud provider.
[70]
[PDF] Commonwealth Bank of Australia 2025 165(d) Resolution Plan - FDIC
Jul 1, 2025 · The Branch also offers a range of global market risk management services including foreign exchange, interest rate derivatives, fixed income ...
[71]
History - Past leaders - CommBank
Summary of previous Chairmen of the Board, Governors, Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers.<|separator|>
[72]
Inquiry panel - Treasury.gov.au
Mr Murray previously was the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia between 1992 and 2005. In this time Mr Murray oversaw the ...Missing: tenure | Show results with:tenure
[73]
[PDF] Group Strategy: David Murray, Chief Executive Officer - CommBank
May 20, 2003 · In addition, with leading market shares in over half of our portfolio and a diversified business mix, we are better able to manage the ...
[74]
Four CBA bosses on what makes the bank great - AFR
Feb 2, 2025 · The four CEOs who have run the Commonwealth Bank over the past 30 years share their views on why CBA has managed to consistently outperform ...Missing: privatization | Show results with:privatization
[75]
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704820904575055953238700266
[76]
$$16m man worth every cent to CBA - The Sydney Morning Herald
Jul 22, 2011 · Greeted with more than a hint of scepticism when he took over the top job at CBA, Ralph Norris leaves behind an impressive track record.
[77]
CBA boss Norris pays dearly for rates decision - AFR
Aug 16, 2011 · Despite delivering the country's biggest ever bank profit in the 2011 financial year, Mr Norris earned $8.6 million, down from $16.2 million in ...
[78]
IAN NAREV IS LEAVING CBA - Business Insider
Aug 13, 2017 · Narev, aged 50, has been in the job since the end of 2011, bringing the bank to a record full year profit of almost $10 billion, and paying out ...
[79]
'I am sorry': CBA boss Ian Narev apologises for ATM money ...
Oct 6, 2017 · Commonwealth Bank chief Ian Narev has issued a frank apology over the money laundering compliance scandal that destroyed billions in shareholder value.
[80]
Commonwealth Bank of Australia scraps CEO bonus over money ...
Aug 7, 2017 · The board said it had cut short-term bonuses to zero for the chief executive, Ian Narev, and other top executives for the year to June 30, 2017.
[81]
Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev to step aside by July 2018 ...
Aug 13, 2017 · The Commonwealth Bank's chief executive, Ian Narev, will step aside by 1 July 2018, the bank's chairman, Catherine Livingstone, has announced.
[82]
Commonwealth Bank keeps CEO Comyn in top job until at least 2028
Oct 15, 2025 · Comyn has been chief executive for seven years, meaning at least another three years would take his tenure to a decade. Australia does not ...
[83]
CommBank establishes Seattle Tech Hub to further accelerate its AI ...
Mar 27, 2025 · CommBank Chief Executive Officer, Matt Comyn said, “As the rate of global innovation continues to accelerate, we increasingly believe that ...
[84]
Commonwealth Bank extends CEO Matt Comyn's tenure until 2028
Oct 15, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) Chief Executive Matt Comyn will stay on as CEO until at least 2028, following confirmation from Chair Paul ...
[85]
[PDF] CBA 2025 Corporate Governance Statement
Aug 13, 2025 · These are the: • Audit Committee;. • Nominations Committee;. • People & Remuneration Committee; and. • Risk & Compliance Committee. The People & ...
[86]
History - CommBank
Privatisation and subsequent developments 1991 onwards. First Sydney branch. “Precisely at 10 o'clock yesterday morning, the doors of the Commonwealth Savings ...Missing: milestones | Show results with:milestones
[87]
Board Renewal - CommBank
Aug 19, 2025 · Chair of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Paul O'Malley, today announced the appointment of Jane McAloon AM to CBA's Board as an ...
[88]
2025 Commonwealth Bank AGM: Chair's address
Alistair Currie and Jane McAloon AM will today stand for election as Independent Non-Executive Directors, with the support of the Board.
[89]
Everyday Transaction Accounts - CommBank
Everyday Transaction Accounts · $0 monthly account fee if you are under 30 or deposit $2,000 each month or meet other conditions · Australia's most popular ...Student banking · Everyday Account Smart Access · Streamline BasicMissing: consumer | Show results with:consumer
[90]
Compare Savings Accounts & Interest Rates - CommBank
Available on balances from $5,000 to $1,999,999 with interest paid annually. Special Offers are available on Term Deposits opened or renewed by personal or Self ...Term Deposits · Compare accounts · Term Deposit maturity · NetBank Saver
[91]
Term Deposits - CommBank
Feel confident knowing exactly how much your money will earn. Lock-in a competitive interest rate from as short as 1 month to as long as 5 years.Missing: everyday | Show results with:everyday
[92]
Standard Variable Rate Home Loan - CommBank
A competitive variable rate home loan with discounts tailored to you. Access and save with multiple offset accounts, plus an extensive range of features and ...
[93]
Fixed rate home loans - CommBank
For a limited time, lock in a low 4.99% p.a two-year fixed rate | 7.24% p.a comparison rate^. Apply online or book an appointment to speak to a Lending ...
[94]
Personal Loans | Flexible Repayments Available With CommBank
Apply now for a personal loan, secured or unsecured, for a range of loan purposes. Discover our competitive interest rates, and our discounts for energy ...Personal loans guide & FAQs · Car Loans · Travel Loans · See complete calculatorMissing: core transaction deposits
[95]
Energy Efficient Discounts for CommBank Personal Loans
Get a discounted rate of 3.99% p.a. and no establishment or loan service fees. CommBank Home Loan customers looking to make an eligible energy-efficient ...
[96]
CommBank Awards Cards | Earn Points and Redeem Rewards
Maximise your rewards with CommBank's Awards credit cards. Earn points on purchases, redeem for rewards, and receive benefits & purchase protection.
[97]
Our Ultimate Awards Credit Card - CommBank
Earn 25,000 CommBank Awards points or 17,500 bonus Qantas Points each month when you spend $3,000 or more per month for the first 4 months on a new Ultimate ...
[98]
Full year 2025 financial results news - CommBank
Aug 13, 2025 · News, video and detailed information on Commonwealth Bank of Australia's financial results.
[99]
[PDF] CBA 2025 Full Year Results Profit Announcement
Aug 13, 2025 · Growth was driven by higher Transaction deposits (up 8% including ... Bankwest brand name. The Bankwest brand name has an indefinite.
[100]
25 Years of Internet Banking in Australia - LinkedIn
Mar 14, 2021 · NetBank. The Commonwealth Bank launched NetBank 15 months later in February 1997 offering BPay and inter-bank transfers, laying the foundation ...
[101]
CommBank on the App Store - Apple
Rating 4.7 (299,513) · Free · iOSWelcome to Australia's best banking app^ 16 years in a row. Join 9 million people in Australia using the CommBank app. There's so much to love:.
[102]
Bank-backed Oz P2P payments app Beem It launches
May 28, 2018 · The app will enable Aussies with Android and iOS handsets to send up to $200 a day instantly for free, no matter who they bank with.
[103]
New payments app backed by major banks launches - The Adviser
Jun 1, 2018 · Beem It has a limit of $200 per day for sending money and $10,000 for receiving money.
[104]
Beem - CommBank
BeemTM is a free to download app which allows anyone to make, request or split payments instantly. All you need to do is link a Visa or Mastercard debit card ...Missing: P2P | Show results with:P2P
[105]
Apple Pay and Google Pay - CommBank
You can use Apple Pay and Google Pay to collect payment details as a token representing a payment card that the payer has added to their Apple or Google Pay ...
[106]
CBA: Apple Pay, Google Pay to become biggest payment method
May 20, 2021 · New Commonwealth Bank figures show digital wallets are set to become the most common contactless payment method by the end of the year.
[107]
Australia's Science Agency & Commonwealth Bank Trial Blockchain ...
Nov 14, 2018 · A trial conducted by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the Data61 unit of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research ...
[108]
CBA's Blockchain Centre of Excellence in review
Jan 21, 2019 · In late 2017, CBA successfully demonstrated blockchain could cut time and cost while enhancing transparency and security in global commodities ...
[109]
CBA teams up with JP Morgan for blockchain-led funding market trials
Jul 10, 2025 · Three major banks have signed up to trial digital payment and settlement systems as part of a Reserve Bank of Australia-led project.
[110]
CommBank, JP Morgan, ASX and HQLA X selected to help research ...
Jul 10, 2025 · CommBank, J.P. Morgan, ASX and HQLAX selected to help research key RBA digital currency project. Innovative approach will look at ways of using ...
[111]
Record digital engagement for Australia's #1 banking app
Aug 10, 2022 · That is reflected in customer response to the app with it scoring a consumer mobile net promoter of +30.7, comfortably ahead of its major bank ...
[112]
[PDF] CBA 2024 Annual Report Sustainability performance metrics
Aug 14, 2024 · Commonwealth Bank – Net Promoter Score. Consumer NPS. 8.4. 3.9. 4.5. 0.8. (2.9). – Rank. 1st. 1st. 2nd. 2nd. 2nd. Online banking NPS. 12.0. 11.1.
[113]
[PDF] Foreign Exchange | CommBank
Nov 10, 2023 · This PDS provides information about foreign exchange transactions and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation ...
[114]
International payments & foreign exchange - CommBank
We offer a range of services to help you execute international payments, manage risks and help you to do business around the world.Missing: hedging | Show results with:hedging
[115]
CommBank's top 5 tips for exporters | News and updates
Aug 28, 2025 · CommBank understands the challenges and opportunities of global trade. Its Commodities, Trade and Carbon team offers integrated risk management ...
[116]
Carbon, trade & commodities - CommBank
Our dedicated commodities trading desk operates from Sydney, London, Singapore, and New York, providing clients 24-hour access to hedging products for base and ...
[117]
Commonwealth Bank drops Dollarmites program | CHOICE
Oct 25, 2021 · The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's controversial school-banking program Dollarmites has been cancelled around Australia.
[118]
Commonwealth Bank Dollarmites program ditched from Queensland ...
Apr 25, 2021 · The Commonwealth Bank's Dollarmites program will be booted from Queensland schools after the corporate watchdog review found there was limited value.
[119]
CommBank partners Dandelion for real-time transfers
Oct 6, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank of Australia has teamed up with Dandelion Payments for real-time international transfer technology.Missing: adaptation | Show results with:adaptation
[120]
[PDF] 1008-Commonwealth-Bank-of-Australia-to-acquire-BankWest-and ...
Sydney, 8 October 2008: The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (the Group) has acquired the Bank of Western Australia Limited (BankWest) and St Andrew's Australia ...
[121]
CBA buys BankWest for $2.1b - The Sydney Morning Herald
Oct 8, 2008 · Commonwealth Bank of Australia will push ahead with an accelerated bookbuild to fund its $2.1 billion acquisition of Perth-based lender BankWest.<|separator|>
[122]
About us - Bankwest
We joined the Commonwealth Bank Group, becoming part of Australia's largest financial services provider. Today. We continue to evolve, becoming a digital ...
[123]
[PDF] Bankwest acquisition update - CommBank
Apr 30, 2009 · At 31 December 2008, Bankwest's total provisions were $895 million, approximately 1.5 per cent of gross loans and acceptances (“GLAs”).
[124]
CBA support for Bankwest's transition to a fully digital bank
Mar 7, 2024 · Five hundred CBA Group roles in technology, operations, and customer service will be redirected to WA to support of Bankwest's digital transition.
[125]
Ups and downs for Colonial, CBA - AFR
Mar 11, 2000 · Commonwealth Bank's $9.4billion takeover bid for Colonial is set to create Australia's fifth-largest company, with close to 10 million ...
[126]
Commonwealth Bank of Australia acquires Colonial | IFLR
Mar 31, 2000 · The Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced last month that it intends to buy Colonial Limited for $5.7 billion.
[127]
Completion of sale of 55% interest in Colonial First State to KKR
Dec 1, 2021 · Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) today announced that the sale of a 55% interest in Colonial First State (CFS) to KKR has completed.
[128]
About Us | Colonial First State - CFS
Colonial First State has been freeing Australians from financial complexity for over 35 years, helping over three million Australians since 1988.
[129]
[PDF] FOI 3144 - Commonwealth Bank's acquisition of Bankwest
PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF BANK OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA LTD As part of its expansion strategy, BankWest had aggressively targeted growth in its market share, ...Missing: 2001-2025 | Show results with:2001-2025<|separator|>
[130]
About us - CommBank
We focus on providing retail and commercial banking services predominantly in Australia, and in New Zealand through our subsidiary, ASB. Our products and ...
[131]
New Zealand - CommBank
If you'd like to open an ASB account or talk to someone about personal banking in New Zealand, call our International Customer Services team on 0800 803 804.
[132]
CBA NZ Operations Disclosure - ASB Bank
CBA NZ Banking Operations. Current and prior year copies of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia - New Zealand Banking Group Disclosure Statements.
[133]
Asia - CommBank
With branches in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, the Bank offers a range of financial services to both Australian clients with interests in Asia and ...
[134]
[PDF] 2025 Annual Report | CommBank
Aug 13, 2025 · As we look forward, we have refreshed our strategy to focus on supporting Australia's economic growth. – remaining at the centre of our ...
[135]
Good times are over for banks, warns Murray - AFR
Sep 13, 1995 · The bank became more efficient in the year to June, as was evident in the reduction in the bank's cost to income ratio from 66.68 to 62.2 per ...
[136]
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1458249
[137]
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB934395932995344311
[138]
[PDF] Annual Report 2005 - CommBank
The Bank reported a statutory full year net profit after tax (NPAT) of $3,991 million for the year ended 30 June. 2005, an increase of 55% over the previous ...
[139]
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) Return on Assets (ROA)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Historical Profitability Metrics ; 2020, 0.94%, 13.33% ; 2019, 0.88%, 12.31% ; 2018, 0.96%, 13.86% ; 2017, 1.02%, 15.73% ...Missing: pre- controls
[140]
Dividend information - CommBank
2025 final dividend. Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced a final dividend of $2.60 per share for the second half of the financial year ended 30 June 2025.Missing: largest | Show results with:largest
[141]
Market capitalization of Commonwealth Bank (CBA.AX)
Market capitalization of Commonwealth Bank (CBA.AX) · Market cap: $185.46 Billion USD · Market cap history of Commonwealth Bank from 1996 to 2025.Missing: ASX | Show results with:ASX
[142]
Intra-Industry Effects of Bank Privatization: A Clinical Analysis of the ...
Jun 6, 2003 · This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the effects of the privatization of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) on the Bank's performance and that ...Missing: 1996 surge<|separator|>
[143]
[PDF] CBA 2025 Full Year Results ASX Announcement
The Group's Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio of. 12.3% was well above APRA's minimum regulatory requirement of 10.25% at all times throughout the year and ...
[144]
https://www.raskmedia.com.au/2025/10/25/2-tools-to-value-the-commonwealth-bank-of-australia-asx-cba-share-price-14/
[145]
Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Record Profitability and Strategic ...
Aug 12, 2025 · - Shareholder returns include fully franked dividends and a buyback program boosting intrinsic value, historically driving positive price ...
[146]
Commonwealth Bank Extends Share Buy-Back Program - TipRanks
Aug 12, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank extends its share buy-back until August 2026. The buy-back aims to manage capital and enhance shareholder value. Looking for ...
[147]
Full year 2020 financial results - CommBank
Commonwealth Bank has unveiled a cash net profit from continuing operations for the 2020 Financial Year of $7.3 billion.
[148]
Full-year 2022 financial results - CommBank
Statutory NPAT was $9.673 billion, up 9%; Cash NPAT of $9.595 billion was 11% higher reflecting operational performance, volume growth in core businesses ...
[149]
Australia's CBA posts record A$10.25 billion full-year profit on ...
Aug 12, 2025 · CBA, which underwrites a quarter of Australia's A$2.2 trillion mortgage market, saw its home and business lending grow 6.1% and 12.2%, ...
[150]
Share of proprietary loans grows at CBA, new AI partnership ...
Aug 13, 2025 · The spot rate for total home loans at CBA and Bankwest together was $634 billion, growing 6 per cent year on year from $596 billion. The major ...
[151]
[PDF] 2023 - Annual Report - CommBank
Aug 9, 2023 · ... digital banking – equal to or better than any other. The. Bank's ... digital transactions account for 75% of total transactions by value ...
[152]
Commonwealth Bank transforms digital banking for retail and business
Nov 29, 2023 · Active customers using this feature are spending 20% more time in the app. Digital services have been increasingly responsible for the opening ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[153]
A digital and analytics journey at the Commonwealth Bank of ...
Pete Steel and Andrew McMullan of CBA describe how the bank has used digital and analytics to transform the customer experience, and more.Missing: initiatives | Show results with:initiatives
[154]
Driving digital customer value in banking - KPMG International
How the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is reinventing the bank to drive digital customer value.Missing: 2021-2025 | Show results with:2021-2025
[155]
CommBank ranks among world's best banks for AI maturity
Oct 8, 2025 · CommBank's rise in the rankings – from #5 in 2024 – reflects its sustained investment in responsible AI and its commitment to delivering real- ...
[156]
CBA named best in APAC for AI maturity | Asian Banking & Finance
Oct 14, 2025 · The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ranked first in Asia Pacific and fourth globally in terms of artificial intelligence (AI) maturity, ...
[157]
CommBank partners with OpenAI to boost operations with AI - FStech
Aug 13, 2025 · ... AI solutions designed to strengthen fraud detection while offering more personalised services to CommBank customers. The agreement will see ...
[158]
CommBank harnesses near real-time, AI-powered intelligence to ...
Jun 27, 2025 · These AI-bots are engineered to engage scammers, gather critical intelligence and disrupt scam operations – with near real-time scam ...Missing: adoption | Show results with:adoption
[159]
Commonwealth Bank backtracks on AI job cuts, apologises for 'error'
Aug 21, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank announced 45 job cuts last month, as it introduced an AI "voice-bot", but has now reversed its decision.
[160]
Australia's Biggest Bank Reverses Plan to Replace Jobs With AI
Aug 20, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank of Australia reversed a decision to cut 45 customer service roles due to new artificial intelligence technology after ...
[161]
Artificial intelligence - CommBank
Learn how CBA applies 6 principles in the use and governance of artificial intelligent (AI) systems.
[162]
CBA flags AI as major investment focus following record $10.25bn ...
Aug 13, 2025 · The major bank plans to make further investments in modernising its technology platforms and strengthening its cyber security this financial ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[163]
Commonwealth Bank fixes 'issue' affecting payments, online access ...
Oct 2, 2025 · The bank says banking services, including payments, online access and ATMs, are now working.
[164]
CBA's 3-hour service outage comes amid RBA warning on reliability
Oct 2, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank is investigating the cause of a three-hour outage of its payments, internet banking and ATM services on Thursday, on the same ...
[165]
CBA Faces 3-Hour Outage Amid RBA Warning - The Aussie Corporate
Oct 2, 2025 · The disruption occurred between approximately 11:30am and 2:30pm AEST on Thursday. Its timing drew attention due to its overlap with the RBA's ...
[166]
Commonwealth Bank hit by major outage to online services
Oct 2, 2025 · “CommBank banking services, including payments, online access and ATMs are being restored. We apologise for any inconvenience and thank ...
[167]
https://www.afr.com/technology/cba-retains-faith-in-the-cloud-despite-aws-crash-20251021-p5n47l
[168]
CommBank service updates
Saturday 25 October 2025 4:30pm We thank customers for their patience as we work with EFTPOS to resolve the issue. Customers can message us via the CommBank ...
[169]
Intra-industry effects of bank privatization: A clinical analysis of the ...
Aug 5, 2025 · This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the effects of the privatization of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) on the Bank's performance and that ...
[170]
New report helps farmers focus on financing for a sustainable future
Oct 4, 2023 · Since launching our Agri Green Loan and green equipment finance products at the end of 2022, we have funded more than $56 million worth of green ...
[171]
Regional & Agribusiness case studies - CommBank
CommBank's Regional Business Insights and Agri Insights provide a snapshot of business investment intentions and the state of innovation in Australia.
[172]
Commonwealth Bank's Profit Boosted by Business Lending Growth
Sep 26, 2025 · This growth is primarily attributed to a substantial surge in business lending, with the bank's business loan portfolio expanding by 9.1% over ...
[173]
Helping Australia's small businesses unlock value and reduce costs ...
Mar 18, 2025 · CBA Business Bank's customer recognition program is now available to more than 340000 small business customers.
[174]
CBA launches SME cash flow management course | Accountants Daily
Jan 23, 2025 · CBA also revealed the launch of a new tailored course aimed at helping small business owners better understand and optimise their cash flow in ...Missing: support | Show results with:support
[175]
CBA speeds up small business asset finance process - Broker Daily
May 22, 2025 · CBA has introduced digital tools and fast-track approvals to help small businesses access equipment and vehicle finance more quickly.
[176]
[PDF] Green, Social and Sustainability Funding Framework | CommBank
Loans and contingent facilities related to low carbon transport and supporting infrastructure. This includes: • Low carbon/clean transport defined as the ...
[177]
Breaking: CommBank formally walks away from climate wrecking ...
Aug 14, 2024 · CommBank's 2023 policy stated it would not fund any oil and gas producing or metallurgical coal mining client without a transition plan from 1 January 2025.
[178]
CBA chief Comyn eyes bigger slice of business lending - AFR
May 14, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank's business loans jumped 9.1 per cent for the March quarter, or 1.3 times the average of the banking system.
[179]
Insights from research - Australian Taxation Office
Jul 23, 2024 · Likewise, the Commonwealth Bank reports that its Start Smart program reaches more than 550,000 students in more than 2,000 schools annually ( ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[180]
[PDF] Start Smart: Impact Report 2020 - CommBank
Students felt more able to protect their workplace rights after seeing the Smart Earning workshop. Delivered engaging financial education. 94%. Students found ...
[181]
“Students will get lessons in financial literacy instead of bank loyalty ...
“Students will get lessons in financial literacy instead of bank loyalty”. CHOICE welcomes end of Commonwealth Bank's Dollarmites program in schools.
[182]
CBA offers free financial wellbeing seminars - CommBank
Jun 5, 2024 · CBA offers free financial education seminars. More than half to focus on educating customers about fraud and scams.Missing: initiatives | Show results with:initiatives
[183]
$$3.5 million awarded to Aussie organisations driving positive change
Nov 11, 2024 · The CommBank Staff Foundation doubles its impact with 175 organisations each receiving $20,000 through the 2024 Community Grants program.
[184]
Community Grants - CommBank
The Community Donation Program gives local branches and customer facing teams the chance to donate $500 to local organisations across Australia, to help them ...
[185]
Committed to supporting regional Australia - CommBank
In 2022, $2m was awarded via $10,000 grants to a broad range of community organisations across Australia. Learn more. Our commitment to regional Australia. We' ...
[186]
CommBank Community Donation Program
We're committed to supporting organisations who make a difference. Our Community Donation Program gives local branches the chance to donate $500 to ...
[187]
Commonwealth Bank - still backing fossil fuel expansion
CommBank has also said it will not fund any oil and gas producing (>15% of revenue), metallurgical coal mining (>15% of revenue), or coal-fired power ...
[188]
Australia's largest bank pulls plug on fossil fuel financing. Will other ...
Aug 15, 2024 · CBA had been called “the worst offender on climate and lending to fossil fuel companies”, by Market Forces. The climate lobby group has now ...
[189]
Breaking: CommBank formally walks away from climate wrecking ...
Aug 14, 2024 · CommBank's 2023 policy stated it would not fund any oil and gas producing or metallurgical coal mining client without a transition plan from 1 January 2025.
[190]
Commonwealth Bank shareholders sue over 'inadequate' disclosure ...
Aug 7, 2017 · The embattled Commonwealth Bank is being sued by shareholders for what they say is a failure to properly disclose the risks to the business posed by climate ...
[191]
Australian court opens CBA records to answer greenwashing ...
Nov 11, 2021 · "The orders enable our clients to inspect internal bank documents so they can come to a view on whether the bank was involved in greenwashing ...Missing: allegations | Show results with:allegations
[192]
Commonwealth Bank's first climate policy attacked by environmental ...
Aug 14, 2017 · The Commonwealth Bank's first climate policy statement has been criticised by environmental groups and sparked one group to lodge a shareholder resolution.
[193]
Pressure on banks despite $10b cut in fossil fuel lending
Dec 15, 2024 · Australia's big four banks have cut their lending to fossil fuel companies by more than 20 per cent in the past two years, as activists pressure the lenders to ...
[194]
Commonwealth Bank to stop financing fossil fuel companies that ...
Aug 14, 2024 · The Commonwealth Bank will stop financing fossil fuel companies that aren't compliant with the Paris climate goals by the end of this year.
[195]
Commonwealth Bank stops lending to fossil fuel companies without ...
Aug 16, 2024 · Australia's largest mortgage lender is no longer offering money to fossil fuel companies that are not aligned with the Paris Agreement.
[196]
[PDF] CBA 2024 Climate Report
Aug 14, 2024 · All figures and commentary relate to the full year ended 30 June 2024 and comparisons are to the full year ended.
[197]
Banking royal commission: Speaking out against CBA had 'horrific ...
Nov 29, 2017 · In 2008, Mr Morris began work as a financial planner at the CBA in Sydney. Very soon he found evidence of corruption going "all the way to the ...
[198]
Insider's view to CBA financial planning scandal
May 4, 2014 · The bank says it has cleaned up its act since the scandal of 2008, including hiring new management and improving its compliance structure.
[199]
CBA Board's Response to CFPL Issues : 2008 to 2013
Massive performance bonuses have recently been paid to CBA staff directly involved in this scandal, and incentive payments for product sales and vertical ...
[200]
Commonwealth Bank boss Ian Narev says sorry for multi-million ...
Jul 2, 2014 · Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev has apologised unreservedly to customers who lost money in the bank's multi-million-dollar financial planning ...
[201]
Commonwealth Bank staff implicated in alleged $76m fraud
Feb 4, 2016 · Commonwealth Bank staff were allegedly complicit in a $76 million Ponzi scheme and received secret commissions for their role in the alleged ...
[202]
Comm Bank staff in alleged fraud: report | SBS News
Two men will reportedly face court after they allegedly masterminded a $76 million Ponzi scheme that involved some Commonwealth Bank staff.
[203]
The Million Dollar Money Laundering Scandal You've Never Hear Of
Oct 12, 2019 · CBA's scandal involved lack of AML procedures, anonymous deposits via IDMs, failure to report transactions, and large deposits moved quickly, ...
[204]
Timeline: banking scandals in Australia since 2009 - The Guardian
Apr 28, 2016 · The Sydney Morning Herald reported that two CBA staff were allegedly complicit in an elaborate Ponzi scheme worth $76m. The alleged architects ...
[205]
CommInsure (Commbank) Life Insurance Claims Investigation | Part 1
Mar 7, 2016 · Fairfax Media-Four Corners special investigation reveals the unscrupulous tactics Commonwealth Bank's insurance arm used to deny its ...
[206]
19-314MR ASIC action leads to CommInsure refunds of $12 million ...
Nov 19, 2019 · CommInsure has today pleaded guilty to 87 counts of offering to sell insurance products in the course of non-compliant unsolicited telephone calls.
[207]
Australia's CBA in widespread insurance mis-selling, inquiry finds
Mar 18, 2018 · Commonwealth Bank of Australia <CBA.AX> sold credit card insurance to about 64000 customers who were not eligible to claim against it, ...
[208]
CBA pleads guilty to criminal charges for mis-selling consumer ...
Oct 29, 2021 · The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has pleaded guilty to 30 criminal charges of making false or misleading representations to 165 customers when selling ...
[209]
The inside account of how Commonwealth Bank tried to bury the ...
Nov 10, 2023 · The banks sold their life insurance and financial planning businesses, executives were humiliated and some lost their high-paying jobs as share ...
[210]
18-024MR ASIC commences civil penalty proceedings against ...
Jan 30, 2018 · ASIC alleges that on three specific occasions CBA traded with the intention of affecting the level at which BBSW was set so as to maximise its ...
[211]
18-210MR ASIC accepts court enforceable undertaking from CBA
Jul 11, 2018 · Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has entered into a court enforceable undertaking with ASIC in relation to their bank bill trading business.
[212]
Banks to refund $60m of 'excessive' fees but CommBank withholds ...
Jul 28, 2025 · Banking customers across Australia who have been unfairly charged high fees are set to receive refunds totalling $60 million.Missing: disputes | Show results with:disputes
[213]
Banks to repay $93M to low income customers, but CBA a holdout
Jul 29, 2025 · Banks have agreed to refund low income customers a total of $93 million in excessive fees following an investigation by ASIC, ...
[214]
Australians demand CommBank refund $270 million in unfair fees
Aug 8, 2025 · Last updated: 08 August 2025. Outrage is growing at Commonwealth Bank's refusal to refund $270 million in excessive account fees the bank ...
[215]
https://www.choice.com.au/money/banking/everyday-banking/articles/cba-unfair-fees-poll
[216]
'We are teaching the machine to take our job': Banks bet big on AI as ...
Sep 8, 2025 · Across the banking sector, thousands of jobs have been lost at the same time as AI use soars in clerical and customer service roles.
[217]
Australia's biggest bank cut staff for AI, then it backtracked - ITPro
Sep 12, 2025 · The CBA rolled out an AI chatbot – reportedly called Bumblebee – to ... The CBA said the aim is to boost scam and fraud prevention as well as ...<|separator|>
[218]
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/commonwealth-bank-staff-reportedly-in-panic-mode-after-latest-job-cuts/news-story/5e57a0166ae09416f07edd67048d397a
[219]
CBA faces scrutiny over redundancies as union slams offshoring push
Oct 2, 2025 · CBA faces scrutiny over redundancies as union slams offshoring push · A redundancy process under challenge · Union concern over job losses · Wider ...Missing: ethical | Show results with:ethical
[220]
CBA reverses AI-driven job cuts, admits 'error' - Information Age | ACS
Aug 21, 2025 · CBA reverses AI-driven job cuts, admits 'error'. Bank backflips, says 'roles were not redundant'. By Denham Sadler on Aug 21 2025 12:57 PM.
[221]
Sponsorships - CommBank
Partnering with Football Australia. We're proud to be the largest supporter of football in Australia's history. Through our partnership with Football Australia ...
[222]
Gooooal! CommBank and Football Australia sign landmark deal to ...
Jun 19, 2025 · CommBank and Football Australia today announced a ground-breaking investment in the world game, and Australia's most played team sport, for the next six years.
[223]
Commonwealth Bank signs historic $60 million deal backing ...
Jun 18, 2025 · Commonwealth Bank has signed a historic six-year partnership with Football Australia, becoming the largest backer of the country's most played team sport.
[224]
How CBA is reaping 'huge dividends' from the Matildas - AFR
Aug 15, 2023 · The deal was worth an estimated $1 million to $2 million a year, according to sports rights experts. CBA chief executive Matt Comyn would not ...
[225]
CBA facing five-fold increase in Matildas sponsorship - News.com.au
Aug 23, 2023 · The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) may need to fork out more than $40 million to remain naming rights sponsor of the Matildas following the team's World Cup success.
[226]
'A Win-Win' – How The Matildas Helped CommBank Become ... - B&T
May 17, 2024 · CommBank's multi-million dollar support of the Matildas has been one of the great sponsorship success stories in Australian history, ...
[227]
Commonwealth Bank and Cricket Australia end 37-year partnership
Dec 23, 2024 · CommBank has announced it will end its commercial partnership with the Cricket Australia (CA) governing body after 37 years.
[228]
CommBank announces sponsorship of SXSW Sydney ® 2024
Jul 2, 2024 · CommBank is proud to announce it will return as a Super Sponsor of SXSW Sydney in 2024, helping bring this unique experience back to Australia on 14-20 October ...
[229]
CommBank Careers sponsors Vivid Sydney 2022
Jun 1, 2022 · Vivid Sydney, the annual festival of lights, music and ideas, which this year is sponsored by CommBank Careers, will run for 23 days from Friday 27th May to ...
[230]
CommBank Indigenous Careers presents Vivid Sydney's ...
May 26, 2023 · A free community festival of arts and music entertainment as part of Vivid Music, featuring a stellar line-up of First Nations artists.
[231]
Opportunity from community - CommBank
Every dollar our people donate is matched by the Group. ... CommBank employees can volunteer their expertise through skilled volunteering and secondment programs.
[232]
CommBank Staff Foundation - ACNC
CommBank Staff Foundation is the Commonwealth Bank s workplace giving program. The Bank covers all operating costs of the Foundation.Missing: initiatives | Show results with:initiatives
[233]
Rewards & benefits - CommBank
Community · Paid volunteering leave. Unlimited volunteering leave? · Pro-bono services & mentoring. If you're passionate about a cause, our Pro Bono Services team ...
[234]
Pro Bono Services and General Volunteering - CommBank
Pro Bono Services connects employees with community organisations to develop professionally and personally, and general volunteering activities involve ...Missing: matching | Show results with:matching
[235]
Commonwealth Bank: A True Partnership Between Company and Staff
Our Workplace Giving program is a true partnership: every dollar our staff donate is matched by the Bank. Troy Longworth, Staff Community Fund Manager ...
[236]
Recipients of CommBank Staff Foundation Community Grants share ...
What kind of difference can an extra $20,000 make? These 2024 Community Grants recipients share their hopes and goals for their organisations.<|control11|><|separator|>