Today
CBA’s Matt Comyn loses his right-hand man, the meticulous David Cohen
Over 15 years at the bank, David Cohen has seen it all. On his retirement, he provides a potted history of CBA’s numerous troubles and its transformation.
- James Eyers
This Month
Home loan competition won’t last: ACCC
The competition watchdog is arguing to uphold its rejection of ANZ’s purchase of Suncorp’s bank. It warned major lenders were already acting in lock-step.
- Lucas Baird
Anti-bank activist Geoff Shannon gets one over ASIC
After four days of hearings spread across 10 months, the regulator’s case failed, Magistrate Mark Bamberry judging its investigation as less than thorough.
- Updated
- Myriam Robin
- Exclusive
- BOSS
Revealed: Australia’s 50 highest-paid CEOs in 2023
Despite topping the pay ranks, Macquarie Group’s Shemara Wikramanayake is just one of two women on the list.
- Patrick Durkin
November
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
CommBank decides one-in-four stats worth fighting for
Australia’s biggest bank isn’t fighting the mortgages war on the frontline. But it is fighting.
- Anthony Macdonald
Armaguard boss laments cash rebound that never came
Mick Cronin says the decline of cash is steeper than it forecast two years ago when merger discussions begun, and “this is a permanent problem”.
- James Eyers
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Why CBA’s latest tech push comes back to the mortgage war
CBA’s recent mortgage losses have shone a spotlight on its sky-high valuation. CEO Matt Comyn’s fresh slate of tech investments is aimed at convincing the market it’s the long term that matters.
- James Thomson
CBA boss keeps his cool as deposit squeeze arrives
The bank says home loan margins have “stabilised” but CEO Matt Comyn says a fight for deposits is the new challenge for margins as savers chase higher rates.
- Updated
- James Eyers
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
CBA says mortgage war caused largest margin hit in history at rival
Most analysts believe the country’s biggest bank has no choice but to blink in the mortgage wars. But CBA boss Matt Comyn is standing his ground.
- Updated
- James Thomson
October
- Updated
- Big four
CBA loan book shrinks three months running, the first time in decades
The bank’s lending to owner-occupiers and housing investors fell to $542.2 billion at the end of September as it steered clear of writing loss-making mortgages.
- Updated
- Lucas Baird and James Eyers
News Corp, James Hardie spinner takes Eat, Pray, Love retirement
After a quadruple heart bypass in July, former News Limited spin doctor Greg Baxter retired from CBA in exactly the right way.
- Mark Di Stefano and Sam Buckingham-Jones
CBA chairman: supporting the Voice ‘policy’, not ‘political’
Paul O’Malley defended a $2 million contribution to the Yes campaign, which he said is consistent with CBA’s support of Indigenous communities.
- James Eyers
Alan Joyce’s fan fiction fantasy
Most of Alan Joyce’s myths have been swallowed whole by the Australian media, but particularly the fairy story that under him, Qantas became extraordinarily prosperous.
- Joe Aston
September
Australia’s 10 most powerful business leaders in 2023
In the ultimate view of the Power panel, the sheer size of Commonwealth Bank’s consumer-facing business lifted Matt Comyn to the top of the list.
- James Thomson
Bankers battle against regional branch mandate
Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn said it was unsustainable to invest in the regional network as the use of physical cash declined.
- Lucas Baird and James Eyers
August
Superannuation’s baby Boomer tipping point has arrived, plus nine more great opinion reads
As the silver tsunami of retirements arrives expect the financial system to be reshaped; the Albanese government seems no more keen to tackle huge reform that its predecessors. Here are ten thoughtful opinion pieces from the last week.
- Opinion
- Big four
The New Zealand market isn’t quite as grim as CBA has you believe
Kiwi bankers have hit back at the claim by CBA boss Matt Comyn that the New Zealand mortgage market is now offering unsustainable returns.
- Karen Maley
How CBA is reaping ‘huge dividends’ from the Matildas
The CommBank Matildas are reaching some of the biggest audiences in decades. A deliberate decision by the bank to pivot to women’s sport started in 2016.
- Updated
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
- Opinion
- Big four
Why the New Zealand housing market keeps Aussie bankers awake at night
The NZ home loan market is a worrying case study of how savagely bank lending margins get whittled away when demand for credit is weak.
- Karen Maley
Why CBA profits are good for 12m Australians
A ‘tycoon tax’ as proposed by the Greens would carve a large hole in the retirement savings of millions of Australians who hold bank shares though their super.
- Joanna Mather and Tom Richardson
