Commonwealth Bank of Australia

We can.
Together.

2020 Annual Review

CONTENTS

How we create value

Our strategic priorities 

Focus on financial  
performance 

8

18

Overview

P.14

P.6

Responding to 
COVID-19 risks 

We have taken action to ensure 
operational resilience and to 
address the risks associated 
with COVID-19.

Delivering for our 
customers and 
communities

We have been focused on 
supporting our customers and 
communities, especially through 
this year’s challenges.

2020 highlights 

Chairman’s message 

CEO’s message 

2

4

6

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Commonwealth Bank of Australia 
ACN 123 123 124

Best in 
digital 

We aim to 
provide the best 
digital banking 
experience by 
bringing together 
market-leading 
service, technology 
and innovation. 

Our commitment  
to sustainability  

Focus on sustainability 
performance 

Managing our changing 
risk landscape 

Responding to COVID-19 risks 

Our current risk priorities  

Board of Directors  

20

32

34

35

36

40

Executive Leadership Team 

41

P.35

Additional 
information

Five-year financial summary 

42

Shareholder information  

43

2020

Service

Innovation

Strength

Building a more focused 
bank to deliver for our 
customers, underpinned 
by innovation and a 
strong balance sheet.

We can. 
Together.

2

3

2020 
highlights

Financial 
highlights

Value 
created

Group 

Customers

Community

Our people

Shareholders

Our strategy is to become a 
simpler, better bank that delivers 
balanced and sustainable outcomes 
for our customers, community, 
our people and shareholders.

Our purpose

To improve the financial wellbeing of our customers 
and communities.

Our values

Our business areas

We do what is right

Retail Banking Services

We are accountable

Business and Private Banking

We are dedicated to service

Institutional Banking and Markets

We pursue excellence

New Zealand (ASB)

We get things done

Our brands

Commonwealth Bank is the largest bank and best known 
financial services brand in Australia.

Statutory net profit 
after tax (NPAT)

$9,634m

 12.4%

Cash NPAT

$7,296m

 11.3%

Operating income

$23,758m
 0.8%

Net interest margin

2.07%
 2 basis points

Capital ratio 
CET1 (APRA, Level 2) 

11.6%
 90 basis points

Deposit funding

74%
FY19 69%

Our targets

 #1 Net Promoter Score 
(NPS) in consumer 
and business banking

Top quartile among 
peer companies for 
reputation improvement

Top 10% globally 
for our employee 
engagement score

Top quartile TSR 
outperformance 
relative to peers

Our progress

#1   mobile app and 

internet banking NPS

#2   consumer NPS

#3  business NPS

RepTrak  
reputation score

61.6

Average of peer 
companies: 67.1

Employee 
engagement

81%

Global top 10% 
threshold: 84%

Total shareholder 
return (TSR)

151%  10-year
8% 
5-year
(11%)  1-year

17m
customers served

$3bn 
tax expense – one of 
Australia’s largest taxpayers 

89%
of employees are proud 
to work at the Bank

888,000+
shareholders, 
78% Australian owned

$106bn 
of new lending for 
Australian home buyers

377,214 
students enrolled in Start 
Smart financial education

$5.8bn
paid to our 41,778 
people in salaries and 
superannuation

$2.98
dividend per share, 
fully franked

$27bn 
of new lending for 
Australian businesses

$10m
commitment to bushfire 
recovery grants

39,000+ 
people and delivery 
partners enabled to work 
remotely during COVID-19

$5.3bn
returned to shareholders 
as dividends 

$650m+ 
in loans under the 
Government’s Coronavirus 
SME Guarantee Scheme, 
>50% of scheme lending

100%
of Australian 
electricity needs  
from renewable  
energy sources

41%
women in 
Executive Manager 
and above roles

$2,420
dividend amount 
received by 
the average 
retail shareholder

Financials are presented on a continuing operations basis, except statutory NPAT, dividend per share and Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) which include discontinued 
operations. All figures relate to the full year ended 30 June 2020 and comparisons are to the year ended 30 June 2019, except employee engagement which is 
30 April 2020 compared to 30 April 2019.

  For data sources, see Glossary on page 293 of the 2020 Annual Report. 

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW4

5

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

Strength in 
uncertain times

Our progress on key strategic, risk and governance 
priorities, together with the strength of our balance 
sheet and capital position, mean the Bank is well 
placed to deliver for our stakeholders. 

Shortly after the Commonwealth Bank 
of Australia commenced operations 
in 1912, the world was gripped by the 
Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. Now, 
as then, the Bank’s purpose is to 
support the financial wellbeing of our 
customers and the community, and to 
provide strength in uncertain times.

This past year has been extremely 
challenging for many of our customers, 
the economy and the Australian 
community at large – initially due 
to bushfires and drought, and more 
recently due to the coronavirus 
pandemic. We have therefore been 
determined to provide financial relief 
to households, keep working capital and 
credit flowing for businesses, deliver 
performance for our shareholders, and 
facilitate economic activity and financial 
stability more broadly. 

Our people and the Bank’s leadership 
team have done an extraordinary 
job and responded quickly and 
effectively to the demands of 
COVID-19 – by meeting customer 
needs and supporting the delivery of 
the Government’s stimulus initiatives. 
This has included helping businesses 
access JobKeeper and being the largest 
lender to small and medium sized 
enterprises through the Government’s 
coronavirus loan guarantee scheme.

A simpler, better bank
Throughout the year, the Bank’s 
leadership team has continued to 
deliver on our strategic priorities, 
with a focus on becoming a simpler, 
better bank. We have made substantial 

progress on divesting and ceasing 
our wealth management businesses, 
which has allowed management to 
focus on the performance of our core 
banking businesses and on providing 
the best banking experiences for 
customers. It has also created capacity 
for ongoing investment in our market-
leading digital assets and in innovation 
for future growth. We have continued 
to make significant improvements 
in the management of non-financial 
risk, including better operational risk 
and compliance practices, thereby 
supporting balanced and sustainable 
outcomes for all of our stakeholders.

Business performance 
and dividends
The business performed well in 2020, 
with the strong focus on operational 
excellence driving growth in our core 
banking businesses. Cash net profit after 
tax was, however, lower primarily due 
to the $1.5 billion impairment provision 
taken for the expected impacts of 
COVID-19 on our customers and the 
economy and consequent credit losses.

Prudent balance sheet management 
underpinned the Bank’s resilient 
funding and liquidity positions. Strong 
capital discipline resulted in a Common 
Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 11.6% 
at 30 June, well above the Australian 
Prudential Regulation Authority 
(APRA) ‘unquestionably strong’ 
benchmark of 10.5%, and substantially 
above the regulatory minimum of 8%.

The Bank’s strong capital position and 
operational performance continues 

to support returns for shareholders. 
The final dividend of 98 cents per 
share reflects the guidance issued by 
APRA in July, that for the remainder of 
the calendar year, banks should retain 
at least half of their earnings. The final 
dividend payout ratio is 49.95% of the 
Bank’s second half statutory earnings. 
Combined with the interim dividend of 
$2.00, this takes the full year dividend 
to $2.98 per share, fully franked. 

Regulatory and 
compliance update
We have made significant progress on 
implementing the recommendations 
from the 2018 APRA Prudential Inquiry 
into CBA, and have now submitted more 
than three-quarters of the milestones 
outlined in our resulting Remedial 
Action Plan (RAP). The Prudential Inquiry 
Report, information on our RAP, and the 
independent reviewer’s (Promontory) 
quarterly progress reports are available 
at: commbank.com.au/APRA.

We are also well advanced on 
implementing the recommendations 
of the Financial Services Royal 
Commission. We are engaging 
constructively and transparently on 
matters that are being considered 
by regulators as a result of the Royal 
Commission or otherwise under 
investigation. Meanwhile, we continue 
to focus on remediating processes 
and systems, and have delivered 
refunds of more than $730 million 
to customers since 2015. Our priorities 
have included significant ongoing 
investment in our financial crime 
prevention and detection capabilities. 

Culture, accountability and 
remuneration
Over the past two years, considerable 
attention has been given to cultural 
change within the organisation. 
The change has been values-led with 
strong leadership from the Board, the 
CEO and his renewed management 
team. There has been an acute 
focus on the skills and behaviours 
required of our people to deliver better 
stakeholder and risk outcomes. This 
includes our Code of Conduct, which 
incorporates our purpose, values and 
the ‘Should We?’ test, and guides our 
people on how they should act and 
make decisions to address customer 
and community expectations.

The changes we have made to 
incorporate risk considerations into 
our remuneration framework and 
assessment have delivered substantial 
improvements to both accountability 
and risk management maturity 
within the Bank. Unsatisfactory 
risk management outcomes 
and behaviours have negative 
remuneration consequences. 
Equally, to reinforce a positive risk 
culture, a significant proportion of 
senior leaders’ short-term variable 
remuneration is tied to the successful 
delivery of our APRA RAP, and 
employees who rate ‘exceptionally 
managed’ for risk are formally 
recognised and rewarded.

We have continued to review the Bank’s 
remuneration framework to ensure that 
it supports our strategic objectives of 
attracting and retaining exceptional 

talent, meets the spirit of anticipated 
regulatory change and is fit-for-purpose 
for the years ahead. For more details see 
the Remuneration report on page 78 
of the 2020 Annual Report.

Sustainable business practice
We are committed to sustainable and 
responsible business practices, in 
accordance with the commitments 
outlined in our Environmental and 
Social Policy. We have continued to 
take the actions necessary to support 
the responsible transition to a net 
zero emissions economy by 2050, 
including ensuring that our business 
lending activities are aligned with this 
intent. This year, we reached our goal 
of sourcing 100% of our Australian 
electricity needs from renewable 
energy, and increased our lending 
to low carbon and renewable 
energy projects. 

We also continued to support our 
customers and clients by providing 
products that incentivise emissions 
reduction and increase climate 
resilience. This year, our institutional 
bank has provided sustainability-linked 
loans that tie the borrower’s cost of 
funding to the achievement of their 
emissions reduction targets, and 
our green mortgage initiative gave 
cashbacks to eligible customers with 
solar panels installed on their homes. 

We have been embedding our 
human rights commitments in 
our operations and supply chain 
management, as well as in our 
lending and investing activities. 

Board renewal
The program of Board renewal 
continues. Sir David Higgins retired 
on 31 December 2019, after more than 
five years of service and contribution 
to the Board. Wendy Stops has been 
an integral member of the Board 
since March 2015 and will retire at the 
conclusion of the 2020 Annual General 
Meeting on 13 October. In June, we 
announced that Simon Moutter will 
become a Non-Executive Director 
on 1 September 2020. Simon was 
previously Managing Director of Spark 
New Zealand Limited (New Zealand’s 
largest telecommunications and 
digital services company) and has a 
background in science and engineering. 
He brings a deep understanding of 
technology, process effectiveness and 
business strategy to the Board.

Looking ahead
Although the year ahead will be 
marked by challenges and uncertainty, 
your Board and management team 
are very clear about the role the Bank 
must and will play in supporting 
our customers and the economy, 
while also maintaining a strong 
and resilient balance sheet and 
delivering operational performance 
for shareholders.

Thank you for your ongoing support. 

Catherine Livingstone AO 
Chairman

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW 
6

7

CEO’S MESSAGE

Delivering for our 
customers and 
communities

As the Bank for all Australians, we’ve taken decisive 
action to support customers, businesses, communities 
and the nation during one of the most challenging 
periods we’ve faced. By contributing to economic stability, 
we also advance the Bank’s long-term success.

Serving our customers 
We are dedicated to being there for 
our customers during some of the most 
significant events in their lives, and 
especially when we’re needed most.

This year, in response to the 
coronavirus pandemic, our priority has 
been to do what we can to support 
our customers through the financial 
and business impacts of the crisis. We 
were able to act quickly because of 
the commitment of our people, our 
technology capabilities, and our strong 
financial position.

To provide immediate cash flow 
relief to households and businesses, 
we processed over 250,000 home, 
personal and business loan deferrals; 
and to get much-needed cash to 
businesses, we funded more than 
$650 million of new loans under 
the Government’s Coronavirus SME 
Guarantee Scheme. Our digital channels 
managed 10.2 million peak daily logins, 
and we sent 130,000 debit cards to 
customers unfamiliar with digital 
banking to ensure they could make 
purchases and pay bills from home.

Contributing to our communities 
Improving the financial wellbeing of 
communities is central to the Bank’s 
purpose. This year we have been 
helping those impacted by bushfires 
and drought, as well as continuing 
to support local organisations, improve 
financial education and address 
financial abuse. To help communities 
rebuild after this year’s devastating 
bushfires, we pledged $10 million 

in recovery grants, and also donated 
to and raised funds for the Australian 
Red Cross and Rural Aid. 

For more than five years, we have 
been playing our part to address 
domestic and family violence and 
financial abuse. This has included 
equipping our frontline staff to 
help customers, providing direct 
financial assistance, and funding 
financial counsellors. Most recently, 
we funded the establishment of 
a Financial Independence Hub 
to help those impacted achieve 
long-term financial independence, 
no matter who they bank with.

Engaging our people 
The improvements we’ve made in 
our management of non-financial risk 
have underpinned our ability to make 
high-quality decisions and implement 
them rapidly during the pandemic. 
This has enabled our people to go above 
and beyond to support customers and 
communities during challenging times. 

Our people have been energised by our 
purpose and feel a strong sense of pride 
and confidence in the organisation. 
Employee engagement is up 13% this 
year and is now the highest it’s been 
for more than four years. 

Executing our strategy 
Throughout the year, we have pursued 
our strategic priorities to simplify our 
business, lead in retail and business 
banking, and be the best in digital. 
By divesting and exiting our wealth 
management businesses we have 

been reducing complexity and risk 
in the Bank, and increasing our focus 
on driving performance in our core 
banking businesses. 

Our retail bank extended its lead 
in home lending as our emphasis 
on operational excellence delivered 
consistent decisions and turnaround 
times for customers. Deposits 
continued to grow strongly, thanks 
to the strength of our branch network 
and digital assets. We have also been 
investing in more business bankers, 
and delivering faster, better service 
– including through our BizExpress 
facility, which provides business 
customers with same-day decisions 
on eligible business loans. 

The current environment has 
accelerated the shift to digital banking 
and electronic payments. With the 
best digital assets in the market we 
are able to deliver richer and more 
personalised digital experiences and 
services. This includes our Benefits 
finder tool in the CommBank app 
which connects our customers to more 
than 230 government and third party 
benefits. Our customers clearly value 
the investments we’ve been making. 
We rank #1 for our internet banking 
and mobile app Net Promoter Score, 
and for the 11th consecutive year, 
we’ve been rated #1 for online banking 
by Canstar. Independent research 
firm Forrester has also rated the 
CommBank app as the overall digital 
experience leader among mobile 
banking apps in Australia for the 
fourth year in a row.

Outlook

Our absolute priority is to help our 
customers and the broader economy 
recover. We will continue to work closely 
with our customers and undertake 
regular reviews and check-ins, to 
understand and support their needs. 

While the duration and impact of 
the health crisis is unclear, Australia 
is relatively well positioned. We are 
starting from a position of fiscal and 
economic strength, and significant 
stimulus measures will continue 
to support the economy. There is 
a pipeline of infrastructure projects, 
and the outlook for mining and 
agriculture exports is strong.

We are, however, prepared for 
a range of economic scenarios. 
We’ve made provisions accordingly, 
and will monitor our lending portfolios 
closely as the situation evolves. 
We anticipate that lower credit growth 
and low interest rates will continue 
to put pressure on revenue, requiring 
increased focus on performance, 
efficiency and capital allocation. 

Even in this challenging environment, 
operational performance in the 
business has remained strong. 
We will maintain our focus on retail, 
business and digital banking to further 
extend our franchise strength, and will 
innovate for future growth. We will 
also continue to work with our industry 
peers, the government and regulators 
to support initiatives that stimulate 
economic activity and jobs. 

Throughout the year, and 
particularly in the last few months, 
our people have shown tremendous 
commitment to our customers, our 
strategic priorities, and to keeping the 
Bank running safely during a period 
of significant uncertainty. I thank them 
for their dedication, and am proud of 
what we have been able to do together 
to support our customers and the 
country at this time. 

We remain focused on supporting 
our customers, driving operational 
excellence and delivering balanced 
outcomes. I am confident that given 
our digital leadership, balance sheet 
strength, and our people’s care 
and commitment, we will continue 
delivering for our customers and 
communities, and for you, our 
shareholders. 

Matt Comyn 
CEO

Delivering performance 
Our financial results this year 
demonstrate the underlying strengths 
of our business, as well as the 
impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. 
Operating income increased 1%, due 
to strong operational performance, 
including above market growth in 
home lending and record growth 
in transaction deposits. This offset 
the impact of lower interest rates, 
COVID-19 related fee waivers, and 
reduced income from credit cards and 
international transactions due to lower 
consumer spending. Loan impairment 
expense increased significantly, due 
to the additional $1.5 billion provision 
taken for estimated future loan losses 
related to the pandemic. As a result, 
cash net profit after tax was 11% lower.

The strength of our balance sheet 
was a key highlight as it underpins 
our ability to serve our customers, 
drive core business outcomes and 
deliver returns for shareholders. 
We are now 74% deposit funded, 
up from 69% just last year and almost 
20 percentage points higher since 
the global financial crisis. We also 
significantly increased our loan loss 
provisioning. We ended the year 
with a very strong capital position, 
putting us in the top quartile of 
international peer banks for capital. 
Our strong capital position, combined 
with our strong statutory profit, 
has allowed us to return $5.3 billion 
in dividends to shareholders this year.

View CEO results 
highlights video

Customers
Engaging with our customers 
to understand what is 
most important to them 
and helping them through 
challenging times.

 For details see pages 22–23.

Community
Making a meaningful 
contribution to Australia and 
investing in the communities 
in which we operate.

 For details see pages 24–25.

Strategy
Delivering a simpler, better 
bank that leads in retail and 
business banking – supported 
by the best digital experience 
for customers.

 For details see pages 8–17.

Performance
Focusing on financial 
performance and balance 
sheet strength to drive core 
business outcomes and 
sustainable returns.

 For details see pages 18–19.

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW8

HOW WE CREATE VALUE

Our 
strategic 
priorities

We are building on our 
strong foundations to drive 
performance and to position 
the Bank for long-term success. 

Simplify our business 

We are becoming a simpler 
bank by focusing on our 
core banking businesses and 
simplifying how we do business. 

We have made substantial 
progress on divesting our wealth 
management businesses. This is 
reducing risk, cost and complexity, 
which together with the capital 
generated, supports reinvestment 
in our banking businesses and future 
returns. We have been simplifying 
our systems and processes to make 
it easier for customers and our 
people to get things done.

Lead in retail and 
business banking 

We have the leading retail 
bank in Australia and are 
focused on growing our 
position in business banking.

We continue to strengthen our 
retail bank franchise by investing 
in exceptional customer service, 
the best distribution channels, 
leading technology and strong 
operational performance. 
We are also investing in better 
business and institutional bank 
customer experiences through 
enhancements to our service, 
data and technology capabilities. 

Best in digital  

Our goal is to continue providing 
the best digital banking 
experience by making banking 
simple, smart and secure. 

We invest in customer-facing 
and back-end technology to 
deliver easy to use, personalised, 
value-add and secure digital 
banking services. We are 
modernising and digitising 
our systems and processes to 
increase our capabilities. We 
continue to innovate both within 
our business and with partners. 

9

Delivering balanced 
and sustainable 
outcomes

Achieving our strategic goals 
enables us to create value 
for our stakeholders.

Customers
Better outcomes

Community
Trusted and reputable

Our people
Energised, accountable

Shareholders
Long-term sustainable returns

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW10

11

OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

Support for retail customers during COVID-19

Leading in 
retail banking

More than one in three Australians 
call the Commonwealth Bank 
their main financial institution.

#1

in home lending, 
household deposits 
and credit cards 1

1,118 

branches (Group total) 
– largest network 
in Australia

1,500+ 

home loan specialists 

2,000+ 

customer contact 
centre staff – all 
located in Australia

1  See Glossary on page 293 of 
the 2020 Annual Report for 
source information. 

Our retail banking strengths 

With over 10 million retail customers, including the largest 
share of youth and new migrant customers, we help more 
Australians manage their finances than any other bank. 

Our retail bank holds leading market shares in home loans, 
household deposits and credit cards. We aim to strengthen this 
position by offering innovative products and services, backed 
by the best systems and processes. 

We are committed to providing exceptional service. Our retail bank service 
promise is ‘simple and easy everyday, brilliant when it matters’.

Our leading distribution network enables us to serve our customers across 
multiple channels, including the Bank’s extensive network of branches, 
mobile banking specialists, ATMs, and Australia-based customer contact 
centres, as well as our online services and apps.

To deliver a seamless experience for customers across all channels, we 
continue to invest in our technology, data capabilities and digital assets.

We assess our performance using Net Promoter Score (NPS), 
which is a measure of our customers’ willingness to recommend 
us to their family and friends. We have seen a seven point improvement 
in the last 12 months in consumer NPS, indicating that customers are 
valuing the support and service we are providing. 

Our priority has 
been to provide 
safe, continuous and 
proactive essential 
banking services 
to our customers.

We have kept our branches 
open with physical distancing 
measures in place to protect customers and our people, and have 
surged resources into our customer contact centres to meet the increase 
in demand for help. We have also used our digital channels to send 
personalised messages to customers to alert them to the support available.

To help households manage their cash flows, we quickly added new 
functionality to enable customers to apply for home loan repayment 
deferrals online, dropped the rates on fixed rate home loans, and 
reduced repayments on principal and interest variable rate home loans 
to the minimum required. We also offered repayment deferrals on 
personal loans and a special term deposit rate for our deposit customers. 

We will continue to focus on relieving financial stress and supporting 
customers as we work towards economic recovery. 

800% 

increase in calls to our 
financial assistance line

154,000 

home loans  
deferred at peak

Helping first home buyers
Rayen Gouli and his wife Sabina Lama kept 
a close eye on the property market and had 
saved for years, but thought a 20% deposit 
to buy their first home in Melbourne was 
out of reach.

That changed when Rayen spoke with 
a home lending specialist at his local 
Commonwealth Bank branch who 
explained that the couple qualified for 
the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. 

The home lender helped them through 
the loan approval process, and shortly after, 
Rayen and Sabina launched their house hunt. 

Today, the couple are enjoying being 
homeowners and having a place to 
call their own. 

Bank less with Bankwest
Bankwest’s mission is to do more for 
customers by asking them to do less. 
To deliver frictionless, customer-friendly 
banking, Bankwest provides a new signing 
service that allows customers to sign their 
home loan contracts digitally, from any 
device, in minutes – greatly reducing the time 
taken to prepare a home loan for settlement.

Bankwest has also continued to innovate 
for brokers and was voted ‘Bank of the 
Year’ in the Mortgage Professional Australia 
2020 Brokers on Banks awards. The award 
recognises Bankwest’s investment in digital 
tools and support. This includes a portal 
that enables brokers to track their clients’ 
applications in real-time, and a dedicated 
single point of contact for brokers 
throughout the application process.

New home owners, Sabina Lama and Rayen Gouli. 

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW12

13

Support for business 
customers during COVID-19

We have been helping small 
business customers adapt to the 
current environment.

To help customers deal with the 
sudden shut down of the economy, we 
automatically enrolled eligible small 
business customers into our loan repayment 
deferral program. We also expanded our 
24/7 support teams, adding further options 
and a dedicated helpline to help them 
access funds and pay their staff ahead 
of the Government’s JobKeeper payments. 

We funded more than $650 million in 
new lending under the Government’s Coronavirus SME Guarantee 
Scheme, equivalent to over 50% of all fundings through the scheme. 

Our teams also worked with small business customers to quickly move 
their business online. Using the Bank’s digital capabilities, we helped 
customers build e-commerce enabled websites with the ability to take 
orders, process secure payments and arrange delivery. 

86,000 $27bn 

business loans 
deferred at peak

of new lending for Australian 
businesses in FY20 1

Incentive-based finance 
for sustainable outcomes
Our institutional bank and Wesfarmers 
recently signed a $400 million three-year 
bilateral sustainability-linked loan – the first 
in Australia to be linked to achieving better 
social outcomes and the largest to be offered 
by a single lender. 

Wesfarmers will receive a margin discount on 
its loan if the company meets its ambitious 
social and environmental targets, linked to 
Indigenous employment and reduced carbon 
emissions intensity.

Sustainability-linked loans deliver widespread 
benefits by incentivising improved organisational 
behaviours that build a better Australia and 
lead to more sustainable outcomes.

Keeping businesses  
moving forward
Business owners need to act quickly when 
circumstances change or when opportunities 
arise. That’s why we are using our leading 
digital capabilities to provide them with smarter 
everyday banking, faster access to funds, and 
more support when and where they need it. 

Through our BizExpress facility we are providing 
existing customers with same-day lending 
decisions for unsecured loans up to $250,000 
and secured loans up to $1 million. 

By using existing customer information to 
automate and streamline the application 
process, BizExpress cuts the paperwork 
for customers and enables our teams to 
get funds into customers’ accounts faster. 

OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

Strength in  
business banking

We are investing in service, 
data and technology to become 
Australia’s leading business bank.

Backing Australian businesses

This year we have focused on supporting Australian 
businesses to facilitate the critical role they play 
in the economy. 

Our business bank serves business, corporate and agribusiness 
customers. To build on the Bank’s strengths as the leading 
payments provider and merchant acquirer in Australia, we have been 
adding dedicated business bankers and providing more tailored 
and responsive everyday banking, deposit and lending services. 
Improvements have also been made to end-to-end processes and 
technology to enhance customers’ banking experiences. 

Our institutional bank serves the commercial and wholesale 
banking needs of large corporate, institutional and government 
clients. To help clients navigate the rapidly changing business 
environment, the institutional bank has been using its expertise 
in capital structuring, financial markets and risk management. This 
increasingly includes advising clients on end-to-end financing and 
helping them access alternative domestic and international sources 
of capital. The institutional bank is also leveraging insights from the 
Bank’s data and analytics capabilities to help clients stay on top of 
emerging trends in their industries and the economy.

#1

payments provider 
with largest 
merchant base 1

2,500+

business bankers  
and specialists

240+ 

locations supporting 
business customers

$650m+ 

in loans under the 
Government’s Coronavirus 
SME Guarantee Scheme, 
>50% of scheme lending

1  See Glossary on page 293 of the 2020 
Annual Report for source information. 

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW14

15

OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

Best in digital

Our goal is to provide the best digital 
banking experience globally.

Australia’s #1 banking app

Our award-winning CommBank app, used by 6.1 million 
active customers, now delivers personalised services and 
alerts to help customers better manage their money and 
make smarter financial decisions.

Smart features include transaction notifications, reminders 
for upcoming credit card payments, budgeting tools 
and a month-to-month spend tracker. We have also strengthened 
security and fraud detection to keep our customers safe and secure. 

Bill prediction, the latest feature, uses data and machine learning to 
identify recurring bills and provide a timeline of upcoming payments.

The app also extends beyond banking to provide customers with 
integrated shopping and benefit features. This includes CommBank 
Rewards which matches customers with personalised offers and 
cashback rewards on everyday spending.

Delivering the best digital bank

We have built our leadership position in digital 
banking through decades of investment in digital 
infrastructure, assets and innovation. 

We have prioritised the customer experience to deliver intuitive 
and user-friendly digital banking services. 

We continue to invest in our Customer Engagement Engine 
which uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and 
insights from customer activity to drive highly relevant 
and personalised experiences. 

We also continue to develop new features and functionality, 
and partner with other innovative companies, to add more 
value for customers. 

Our mobile app and internet banking platform have consistently 
ranked number one for Net Promoter Score. We aim to maintain 
this position by anticipating customers’ needs and expectations 
and by ensuring that their banking experience with us compares 
favourably to their best digital experience with any other product 
or service provider. 

#1

 mobile app and 

internet banking NPS 
(Roy Morgan Research) 

 online banking  

– 11 years in a row 
(Canstar)

 mobile banking  

– five years in a row 
(Canstar)

 banking app in 

Australia (Forrester)

66% 

of CommBank transactions 
made digitally (by value)

See Glossary on page 293 of the 2020 
Annual Report for source information. 

Extending our technology advantage

We are focusing on six key areas:

Deep  
personalisation 

We are deploying artificial 
intelligence, machine 
learning and data insights 
to drive personalised 
and seamless service 
across all channels. 

Integrated digital 
experiences 

Digitising  
end-to-end

We are building new digital 
banking services, partnering 
with market leading providers 
and building x15ventures to 
deliver the best integrated 
digital bank experience. 

We are automating and 
digitising processes to 
make things simpler, faster 
and more user-friendly 
for customers and  
our people. 

Intelligent  
protection

We are using real-time 
intelligent analytics to 
detect suspicious activity, 
send real-time alerts 
and automatically block 
fraudulent transactions. 

Modern, resilient 
platforms

We are leveraging 
platform-as-a-service to 
deliver resilient systems, 
cutting applications and 
moving 95% of computing 
to the public cloud.

Globally leading 
capability 

We are partnering with 
global technology leaders 
and talent to support 24/7 
operations, and providing 
remote working capabilities 
for a distributed workforce. 

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW16

17

We launched x15ventures to build a portfolio of new digital 
businesses by combining the agility of a start-up with the 
support and reach of the Bank, to better serve our retail 
and business customers.

x15ventures has launched four ventures already: Home-in 
(e-conveyancing), Vonto (data insights for businesses), Credit Savvy 
(credit-score and marketplace), and Backr (start-a-business platform). 

In July, x15ventures hosted Xccelerate 2020, a virtual pitch 
event for start-ups to battle it out in front of industry experts to 
receive mentoring and funding. The inaugural event is part of our 
commitment to partner with the fintech community, and to launch 
25+ ventures over the next five years. 

This year’s winner is givvable, 
led by Frances Atkins and 
Naomi Vowels. Their platform 
helps companies find and 
source sustainable suppliers.

25+

new ventures  
in five years

 4 in market
 12 in development

Sophie Gilder and Simon Gireau from 
x15ventures at the inaugural Xccelerate event.

We have partnered with Klarna 
to offer a shop now, pay later 
experience that is used by over 
85 million shoppers worldwide.

Through the Klarna app, customers can 
shop at almost any online store and 
pay with instalments using their linked 
CommBank debit or credit card.

Customers can create a Klarna account 
through the CommBank app, and once 
a purchase is made can track orders and 
upcoming payments via the app. Klarna 
also provides special offers and sends 
price drop notifications on wish list items.

Backr is a go-to portal for aspiring 
entrepreneurs and micro-businesses 
looking to set up shop. 

The small business-in-a-box service 
simplifies the process of setting up a 
business, giving step-by-step instructions 
and in-app tools to support business 
registration, business plan formulation, 
invoice creation and more.

Developed through x15ventures, Backr’s 
official launch has been brought forward 
to September 2020 to help the next 
generation of small businesses contribute 
to Australia’s economic recovery. 

  Hire contractors

  Create website

  Register for an ABN

OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

Driving 
innovation 

Our objective is to stay at the 
leading edge of innovation. 

Innovating for growth 

We invest in innovation to offer compelling customer experiences, to stand out 
amid increasing competition and to position the business for future growth. We 
innovate within our business and with strategic partners to improve our customer-
facing applications as well as our back-end processes and systems. 

Reimagining  
banking
Our innovation is structured 
around our core businesses – 
everyday banking, home buying 
and business banking – to enhance 
the services we offer today and 
to anticipate and lead how our 
customers will bank tomorrow.

We continue to simplify the home 
buying experience and are working 
with Home-in to provide customers 
with an end-to-end digital home 
buying assistant. Through Credit 
Savvy, our customers can track 
their credit score and compare 
products. We are helping small 
business customers access and 
interpret their data through Vonto 
so they can optimise and grow 
their business. We also launched 
CommSec Pocket to provide new 
ways to invest.

Reengineering 
processes 
By taking a new approach 
to existing processes and 
information, we aim to deliver 
simpler ways of working 
and improved efficiency and 
performance for our customers 
and our own business. 

We have invested in PEXA which 
digitises home loan settlement. 
By building direct interfaces 
between our systems and the 
PEXA settlement hub, we have 
achieved greater settlement 
certainty for our customers and 
significant productivity benefits 
for our people. As a result, four 
out of five Commonwealth 
Bank and Bankwest home 
loans are now digitally settled 
through PEXA.

Growing strategic 
partnerships
To drive step change innovation 
we partner with start-ups, fintechs, 
scientists, research institutes and 
large market-leading companies. 
This allows us to strategically pool 
talent, resources and expertise.

By collaborating with organisations 
such as the CSIRO’s Data61 and 
Harvard STAR Lab we have used 
multi-disciplinary thinking to 
develop solutions that improve 
our customers’ financial wellbeing. 
We have established our own 
vehicle for innovation, x15ventures, 
in partnership with Microsoft and 
KPMG. We have also partnered 
with SquarePeg and Zetta to help 
identify and launch future digital 
solutions for our customers.

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW18

19

FOCUS ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Delivering for shareholders

Financial  
performance overview

Our financial results for the 2020 financial year reflect the 
impact of COVID-19 on our customers and the economy, 
however, our business performance remained strong. 1

Our aim is to deliver 
sector leading returns and 
a sustainable dividend. We 
achieve this by focusing on 
both operating performance 
and capital generation. 
We understand the importance 
of delivering shareholder returns 
at strong and sustainable levels, 
and that many Australians rely 
on the income they receive 
from dividends.

Net profit after tax

Loan impairment expense, provisions

$9,634m

Statutory NPAT 2
 12.4% on FY19

$7,296m

Cash NPAT
 11.3% on FY19

NPAT was supported by strong business performance 
but impacted by higher loan impairment expense due 
to COVID-19. Statutory NPAT increased due to gains 
on sale from divestments.

$2,518m

 $1,317m on FY19

1.70%

Provision coverage ratio

The loan loss rate increased to 33 basis points 3(bpts), 
inclusive of the COVID-19 provision. Peer leading total 
provision coverage ratio of 1.70%, up from 1.29% in FY19 4.

Volume growth in core business

Net interest margin

Business lending 5

+$7.0bn 

Home lending 5

Household deposits 6

Business lending

Home lending

Household deposits

+5.1%

2.07%

 2bpts on FY19

+$18.4bn 

1.3x system

Group NIM declined due to the impact of lower interest 
rates, partly offset by lower short term funding costs. 

+$25.0bn +9.8%

Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio

Dividend

11.6% 

APRA (Level 2) 2
 90bpts on FY19

$2.98 

Per share, fully franked 2
 31% on FY19

Above APRA’s ‘unquestionably strong’ benchmark 
of 10.5%. CET1 capital ratio of 17.4% on an 
internationally comparable basis.

The final dividend was 98 cents per share, fully franked. 
The interim dividend was $2.00 per share, fully franked.

1  Unless otherwise stated, all information in this section is presented on a continuing operations basis.
2  Includes discontinued operations.
3  Cash loan impairment expense as a percentage of average gross loans and acceptances.
4  Total provisions as a percentage of credit risk weighted assets.
5  As reported in RBA Lending and Credit Aggregates (Home lending and Business lending). RBA collection data was aligned to the new regulatory definitions 
set by APRA from July 2019, therefore the home lending system multiple has been calculated for the 11 months to June 2020 annualised. Business lending 
includes Business and Private Banking, Bankwest and Institutional Banking and Markets (ex. CMPF) and growth is calculated for 12 months.

6  As reported in APRA Monthly ADI Statistics (MADIS) (Household deposits). 

  More information on the Bank’s financial performance is available on pages 18–27 in the 2020 Annual Report .

888,000+
shareholders hold CBA 
shares directly, millions more 
hold CBA shares through 
their superannuation

78%
Australian ownership

52%
direct ownership by 
retail shareholders

$5.3bn
returned to shareholders 
as dividends in FY20

$2,420
dividend amount received by 
the average retail shareholder

Total shareholder return
(%)

151

54

(11)

(32)

8 (24)

1yr

5yr

10yr

CBA

Peer average (ex. CBA)

Total shareholder return (TSR) 
combines both share price 
appreciation and dividends 
paid. It shows the total return 
to shareholders over time.

Sustaining performance
The quality of the Bank’s franchise, including our customer, distribution 
and technology strengths, has supported strong and consistent operating 
performance over time. The strength of our deposits franchise means that we 
have reliable access to lower cost funding. We also manage our balance sheet 
prudently to mitigate earnings volatility, and focus on risk-adjusted returns to 
efficiently allocate capital across our businesses. 

As the outlook for the economy is uncertain we remain focused on managing 
the business, our credit decisioning and our balance sheet carefully, to ensure 
that we remain well-positioned to continue supporting customers and performing 
for shareholders. 

Dividends
The final dividend of 98 cents per share reflects APRA’s July 2020 guidance, 
which applies until the end of the calendar year, that banks should retain 
at least 50% of earnings. The final dividend payout ratio was 49.95% of the 
Bank’s statutory earnings for the second half of this financial year. 

Including the interim dividend of $2.00 per share, the full year dividend was $2.98 
per share, fully franked. The Dividend Reinvestment Plan continues to be offered 
to shareholders. No discount will be applied to shares allocated under the plan for 
the final dividend. 

Dividend per share (cents)

500

400

300

200

100

0

401

218

364

200

320

188

334

197

420

420

429

431

431

222

222

230

231

231

298

98

132

137

164

183

198

198

199

200

200

200

FY11

FY12

FY13

FY14

FY15

FY16

FY17

FY18

FY19

FY20

Interim

Final

Return on equity  
Cash, continuing operations (%)

Earnings per share 
Cash, continuing operations (cents)

13.1

12.1

10.3

491.5

465.5

412.5

FY18

FY19

FY20

FY18

FY19

FY20

Return on Equity (ROE) 
measures the Bank’s profitability. 
It represents the net profit 
generated as a percentage of the 
equity shareholders have invested.

Earnings per share (EPS) 
measures the Bank’s earnings 
growth. It is calculated by dividing 
net profit after tax by the number 
of shares on issue.

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW20

21

HOW WE CREATE VALUE

Our 
commitment 
to sustainability

Delivering balanced and 
sustainable outcomes 
for our stakeholders.

Supporting 
our customers
To improve our customers’ financial 
wellbeing, we are focused on being 
a simpler, better bank and supporting 
our customers through uncertain 
and challenging times.

Investing in our 
communities 
As the Bank for all Australians, 
we have a responsibility to improve 
the financial wellbeing of the 
communities we serve and to make 
a positive contribution to society.

Commitment 
to our people
Our people are our greatest asset and 
having an engaged, energised and 
accountable workforce delivers better 
outcomes for our stakeholders.

Good business  
practice 
By conducting our business 
responsibly and transparently, we 
contribute to a strong economy and a 
trusted and resilient financial system.

Our approach to 
climate change 
We are committed to supporting the 
responsible global transition to a net 
zero emissions economy by 2050.

Our approach is guided by evolving 
global practices and feedback from 
our stakeholders on material matters. 

Global principles and goals

We are signatories to international initiatives, 
principles and goals. 

Our policies and targets

We develop policies and targets to drive progress 
on our commitments. Key policies include:

•  Environmental and Social Policy 

•  Supplier Code of Conduct 

•  Diversity and Inclusion Policy 

  View our policies at commbank.com.au/policies 

Providing transparency

We report our progress in line with global frameworks 
and standards.

Assessing our performance

We benchmark our progress using leading sustainability 
indices and surveys, including:

Dr Scott Sleap and Jordarna Barber

Commonwealth Bank Teaching Award winner 
Dr Scott Sleap pictured with Cessnock High School 
student Jordarna Barber, working on her team’s 
entry for the F1 in Schools STEM Challenge. 

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW22

23

OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

Supporting 
our customers

1m+

calls and online requests 
for help during COVID-19

250,000+

home, business and 
personal loans deferred 
at peak

250m

personalised in-app messages 
offering COVID-19 support

We can. Together. 

We continue to focus on being a 
simpler, better bank and supporting 
our customers through uncertain 
and challenging times.

This year, we have worked to maintain 
essential banking services and provide 
additional support to customers 
impacted by bushfires, drought 
and COVID-19.

Helping customers in need

Through our Emergency Assistance 
Package for customers affected by 
bushfires, floods and storms, we 
expedited more than $100 million 
in insurance claims, deferred loan 
repayments, restructured small 
business loans, and waived certain 
fees and charges. We also extended 
the package to all volunteer firefighters.

We made a Drought Assistance 
Package available to farmers 
and regional businesses affected 
by drought. Support measures 
included a loan repayment pause, 
waiving of fees and charges and 
access to a confidential telephone 
counselling service. 

COVID-19 support

To meet the surge in demand 
for phone and online banking, 
we reskilled support and frontline 
employees and added new temporary 
recruits from the aviation industry to 
help in our customer contact centres. 
We kept our branch network open 
with measures in place to protect 
our customers and our people.

To meet the needs of customers most 
at risk from visiting branches, we 
prioritised calls from customers aged 
over 70, sent debit cards to those 
who rely on passbooks and cash, and 
proactively called 250,000 customers 
to discuss alternative ways to bank. 

At the height of the crisis, we 
automatically deferred repayments 
on all eligible small business loans 
and quickly processed deferral 
requests for our home loan customers. 

We will continue to work with our 
retail and business customers to 
provide the support that best meets 
their individual circumstances 
going forward.

$153m+

benefits for customers in FY20

Benefits finder 
for businesses

To help customers who run 
a business, Benefits finder 
now includes COVID-19 related 
business support packages 
provided by State and Federal 
governments. Through the 
tool customers can now access 
facilities including instant asset 
write offs, cash flow assistance, 
tax relief options and apprentice 
and trainee support. 

  Learn more at 

commbank.com.au/benefitsfinder

Connecting 
customers with 
unclaimed benefits

Each year, Australians miss out on 
millions of dollars in benefits and 
rebates offered by government 
agencies and third parties, such as 
energy rebates, toll relief and carer 
allowances. Our Benefits finder tool 
in the CommBank app and on NetBank 
uses data insights and machine learning 
to match customers with relevant 
rebates and benefits. Over 690,000 
claims have been started through the 
tool since launch. This financial year, 
customers have saved $69 million 
in utility bills and over $84 million 
in additional government payments.

Listening to customers

This year, our Executive Leadership 
Team prioritised directly talking 
with customers, to understand what 
is most important to them, and 
get their feedback on the Bank’s 
performance. This included open 
customer forums, individual 
customer meetings, spending time 
in our branches and listening to 
customer calls in our contact centres.

At the forums, customers asked 
about our deposit and lending 
rates, how we are rewarding loyalty, 
plans for our branch network, and 
what we are doing on financial 
education. Customers also wanted 
to hear what we learnt from the 
Royal Commission and how we 
are rebuilding trust and improving 
our culture. 

Responding to complaints

We take customers’ complaints 
seriously and seek to resolve 
any problems quickly, fairly and 
transparently. If customers are 
dissatisfied with the outcome of a 
complaint investigation, they can 
turn to our Customer Advocate 

Matt Comyn talks to customers at an 
open forum in Brisbane in November.

team for an independent review. 
The Customer Advocate’s decisions 
are final and binding for the Bank, 
but customers can take their dispute 
to an external resolution body, 
such as the Australian Financial 
Complaints Authority, if they remain 
unhappy with the outcome. 

The Customer Advocate team 
also analyses complaint data to 
fix problems before they become 
systemic issues. This helps us to 
proactively improve our products, 
processes and decision-making.

  Key complaint and Customer Advocate 
metrics are provided on page 47 of the 
2020 Annual Report.

Delivering better 
customer outcomes 

We use our technology, data and 
insights to help customers better 
manage their finances. This year 
we sent over 27 million smart 
alerts through the CommBank app 
and NetBank to enable our retail 
and business customers to avoid 
unnecessary overdraft and credit card 
fees. We provide additional resources 
where we have identified areas of 
customer vulnerability. This includes 
our ‘Safe and Savvy’ guide to help 
prevent elder financial abuse. We also 
provide fee-free banking for customers 
with low incomes and a dedicated 
Indigenous Customer Assistance Line 
for customers in remote communities.

Helping customers 
in hardship 

Customers experiencing financial 
hardship are supported by our Financial 
Assistance Solutions (FAS) team. 
This year, the FAS team worked with 
45,787 customers to provide solutions 
tailored to their situations. To help 
customers experiencing financial stress 
due to COVID-19, the team has more 
than doubled to approximately 1,500 
frontline staff. Loans deferred due to 
COVID-19 impacts are not included in 
the hardship figure.

Compassionate 
care for mortgage 
customers 

When our customers face a terminal 
illness diagnosis or lose a spouse or 
dependant, they need to focus on 
their health and caring for their family. 
To ensure they do not worry about 
making their mortgage payments, we 
launched Home Loan Compassionate 
Care in February. This complimentary 
insurance policy covers up to 12 months 
of mortgage repayments for eligible 
owner-occupied home loan customers.

  Learn more at  

commbank.com.au/compassionate-care

Relevant UN Sustainable 
Development Goals

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW24
24

C
h
r
i
s
t

m
a
s
D
r
o
u
g
h
t
A
p
p
e
a

l

a
n
d
p
a
r
t
n
e
r
s
h
p
w

i

i
t
h
R
u
r
a

l

A
d

i

.

F
a
r
m
e
r
s

OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

i

i

l

n
A
r
m
d
a
e
r
e
c
e
i
v
e
d
h
a
y
d
o
n
a
t
e
d
t
h
r
o
u
g
h
t
h
e
B
a
n
k
s

’

Investing in our 
communities

Advancing 
reconciliation

Through our Reconciliation Action 
Plan, we are committed to achieving 
parity for Indigenous representation 
in our workforce. 

Training and employment pathways are 
critical to accomplishing this goal. To 
that end, we sponsor several traineeship 
programs and launched an Indigenous 
Training Academy to encourage the 
take-up of careers in technology. More 
than 30 trainees and interns have now 
graduated from the Academy and many 
are pursuing their careers with us in 
areas such as engineering, end user 
experience and cyber security. 

We are committed to increasing 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
representation in our domestic 
workforce to 3% by 2026.

Indigenous workforce

2020

TARGET
2026

1.5%

3%

Awarding great teachers

Together with Australian 
Schools Plus, the Bank 
continues to celebrate 
outstanding Australian 
educators through the 
Commonwealth Bank Teaching 
Awards. Now in its fourth year, 
the 12 selected teachers and 
school leaders each receive 
a $45,000 Teaching Fellowship 
to fund a strategic project in 
their school and further their 
own professional development. 
This year’s winners include 
Dr Scott Sleap, deputy principal 
of Cessnock High School in 
the Hunter Valley. Dr Sleap 
helps his students see new 
career possibilities in science, 
technology, engineering and 
maths through The Cessnock 
Academy of STEM Excellence. 

$332m

in community investment

377,214

students enrolled in Start 
Smart financial education

$10m

commitment to bushfire 
recovery grants

Making a positive contribution

Fostering green shoots

As the Bank for all Australians, we 
have a responsibility to improve the 
financial wellbeing of the communities 
we serve and to make a positive 
contribution to society.

For more than 100 years, the 
CommBank Staff Foundation – our 
people’s charity – has been supporting 
Australians’ wellbeing. As part of the 
Foundation’s 2020 grants program, 
more than 200 grants of $10,000 
have been awarded to community 
organisations to enable them to 
continue the important work they 
are doing to help communities in 
need. Recipient organisations of this 
year’s grants are working to address 
a diverse range of issues across our 
community – including homelessness, 
Indigenous disadvantage, domestic 
violence and cancer support.

This year, to raise money for 
communities impacted by drought, 
we launched the Christmas Drought 
Appeal. Customers and staff donated 
generously through our branches 
and the CommBank app, adding to 
the $1.6 million donated by the Bank. 
The donations were provided to four 

community partners including Rural 
Aid which delivered over 4,500 bales of 
hay to more than 440 affected farmers. 
Other beneficiaries included the Bush 
Children’s Education Foundation, NSW 
Rural Financial Counselling and the 
Australian Red Cross. 

Our commitment to education

We have a longstanding commitment 
to financial education to help the next 
generation make smart decisions 
about their financial wellbeing, 
through our school banking and 
Start Smart programs.

More than 3.9 million school-aged 
students have now received financial 
education through Start Smart, our 
award-winning financial education 
initiative. The free program was founded 
in 2007 and is designed to give young 
Australians the skills and confidence 
to make good decisions about money. 

This year, with schools closed due to 
COVID-19, we created Start Smart 
Digital to take facilitators into online 
classrooms across the nation. More 
than 11,000 students have participated 
in online learning sessions to date.

Students and teachers at Quaama Public School.

From the start of the bushfire 
season, we used our branch network 
and the CommBank app to help 
gather donations from customers 
and employees. Thanks to their 
generosity, nearly $6 million was 
raised for affected communities. 

To help with the rebuild and 
provide practical, on the ground 
support, we committed up to $10 
million to bushfire recovery grants. 
Community groups were able to 
apply for a grant of up to $50,000 to 
replace lost or damaged equipment 
or support community wellbeing.

One bushfire grant recipient is 
Quaama Public School in the Bega 
Valley Shire. The town’s residents 
had spent years raising money 
to build a teaching garden at their 
local public school. Less than two 
weeks after the garden was officially 
opened, fire swept through.

The grant will now allow the school 
to rebuild the garden, replace the 
irrigation system and get back 
to teaching the students how 
to grow food.

25

Tackling 
financial abuse

For several years we have 
invested in programs that support 
customers, employees and 
members of the community who 
are affected by financial abuse 
in the context of domestic and 
family violence. 

This year, we established a 
Community and Customer 
Vulnerability team to identify and 
respond to those in need with 
sensitivity and skill. Our frontline 
branch staff are also trained to 
provide support and affected 
customers can speak confidentially 
to our specialist Community 
Wellbeing team.

We have partnered with 
leading experts and community 
organisations to develop the 
resources and support networks 
required to help those affected get 
back on their feet.

We have also worked with other 
financial services companies 
and industry bodies to identify 
and stop abuse via digital 
banking platforms, such as the 
use of transaction descriptions 
to threaten and intimidate.

Focusing on 
reputation  
and trust

It is critical that we meet the 
community’s expectations and are 
trusted. To rebuild trust, we have 
been focused on demonstrating 
through our actions that we are 
capable and reliable, doing the right 
thing and improving outcomes 
for all of our stakeholders. To 
emphasise the importance of 
rebuilding the Bank’s reputation, 
executive leaders’ long-term 
variable remuneration granted since 
FY18 is in part linked to relative 
improvements in our RepTrak score.

  See page 90 of the 2020 Annual Report 

for more details.

Relevant UN Sustainable 
Development Goals

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
26

27

OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

Commitment to 
our people

Prioritising health, 
wellbeing 

This year, more than ever, our 
priority has been the safety, health 
and wellbeing of our people. To 
ensure we maintained essential 
banking services and met the surge 
in customer demand for assistance 
during COVID-19, we quickly adapted 
our branches and offices to maintain 
physical distancing and keep our 
people and customers safe. We also 
quickly scaled our remote working 
technologies allowing more than 
39,000 of our people and delivery 
partners to work from home. 

To help our people manage 
coronavirus-related health, anxiety 
or financial concerns, we provided a 
range of wellbeing and family support 
resources via podcasts, webinars, 
videos and our Thrive wellness portal. 
Employees were able to book free 
health checks through our online 
health hub, and access confidential 
counselling through our MyCoach 
telephone service. We also offered 
an interest-free cash advance to 
employees who were having difficulty 
meeting expenses due to the impact 
of COVID-19 on them or their families. 

Promoting a  
SpeakUP culture

It is important that our people 
feel they can raise any issue or 
conduct that concerns them, 
and know that they will be 
taken seriously. This year, we 
enhanced our whistleblower 
policy to meet the requirements 
of ASIC Regulatory Guide 270 
and provided additional avenues 
for our people to raise concerns, 
including the introduction of 
an anonymous online channel. 
The policy was also expanded to 
include spouses, dependants and 
relatives of employees, in addition 
to current and former employees, 
contractors, consultants and 
suppliers. As a result of these 
changes, whistleblower cases 
raised through our SpeakUP 
program increased to 103 from 
30 in FY19. More broadly, general 
SpeakUP cases decreased to 284 
for the year, from 311 last year.

  Learn more at  

commbank.com.au/policies

Engaged and energised 

Creating a diverse, inclusive culture

89%

proud to work for the Bank

90%

confident in the future 
of the Bank

41%

women in Executive 
Manager and above roles

Our people are the Bank’s most 
important asset and an engaged, 
energised and accountable workforce 
is essential to delivering better 
outcomes for all of our stakeholders. 

We track and measure employee 
engagement through the Your Voice 
people and culture survey. Our 
goal is to be among the top 10% of 
companies globally for our employee 
engagement score. Our most recent 
results show a significant improvement 
in engagement, with our people 
indicating they feel proud of the 
work we have been doing to provide 
essential services to customers, 
communities and the broader economy 
during this year’s bushfires and 
COVID-19. During the pandemic, we 
conducted additional, focused surveys 
to assess our people’s key concerns.

In the April survey, employee 
engagement was 81%, up 13% on 
April 2019. 89% of our people said they 
feel proud to work for the Bank, 90% 
expressed confidence in the future 
of the Bank, and 82% said they felt 
a personal sense of accomplishment 
in the work we are doing.

Strengthening culture 
and accountability

Our Code of Conduct incorporates 
our purpose and values, and sets 
expectations on how our people should 
act. It includes the ‘Should We?’ test to 
ensure our people do the right thing 
by our customers and the community. 
This year, further work was done to 
embed our Code of Conduct into our 
processes to support the skills and 
mindset required to deliver the best 
customer and risk outcomes. Our 
new recognition programs celebrate 
colleagues who are living our values, 
and allow our people to nominate 
those who have gone above and 
beyond for Excellence Awards. 

Employee Engagement Index score

68%

72%

81%

84%

CBA 
APR 2019

CBA 
OCT 2019

CBA 
APR 2020

GLOBAL 
TOP 10% 
THRESHOLD

When our people and leaders reflect 
the diversity of our customers and 
when our people feel respected and 
supported, we can deliver the best 
outcomes for all of our stakeholders. 

Our employee-led networks play an 
important role in promoting inclusion 
and informing solutions for our people 
and customers. They include WeCAN 
(gender equality), Yana Budjari 
(Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
peoples and cultures), Unity (sexual 
orientation and gender identity), Mosaic 
(cultural diversity), AdvantAge (life-stage 
and age) and Enable (accessibility and 
inclusion for people with a disability). 

We know that sharing child caring 
responsibilities promotes workforce 
participation and are happy to see male 
employees continue to access parental 
leave this year. Parents at Work, an 
organisation that provides work and 
family education and policy advice, 
featured the Bank in a case study 
on our gender-neutral parental leave. 
We also created Financial Wellbeing 
Guides to further support parents. 

We have achieved the goals set in 2015 
to increase the number of women in 
leadership roles, and so this year have 
set a new ambitious goal to achieve 47–
50% of women in Executive Manager 

and above roles by 2025. We are also 
committed to gender pay equity and 
review it throughout the year as part 
of our remuneration review process. 

While we are proud that the Bank 
overall is more culturally diverse than 
the Australian population, we will 
continue to focus on cultural diversity 
across our senior leadership roles.

  Our key workforce metrics are provided 

on page 50–51 of the 2020 Annual Report. 

Women in leadership

2020 
target

2020  
actual

Executive 
Manager and 
above roles

40%

41%

45%

45%

Relevant UN Sustainable 
Development Goals

Manager 
and above 
roles

New goal

47–50% women 
in Executive Manager 
and above roles by 2025

Welcome aboard

We hired new colleagues from the 
aviation industry to help our contact 
centres manage the increased volume 
of customer assistance requests 
during the coronavirus pandemic. 
The temporary recruits, from Qantas 
and Virgin, bring customer service 
skills that transfer well from aviation 
to banking. To prepare them for 
supporting customers, we launched 
a 15-day training program. We also 
provided dedicated coaching and 
observation, so that our new recruits 
had the confidence and capability 
to take calls with customers.

Molly Beveridge, Scott Thompson and 
Louis Diamond have joined the Bank 
from the aviation industry.

Support for staff 
impacted by 
domestic and 
family violence

Due to the size of our workforce 
and the scale of the issue, we 
know that many of our people are 
directly impacted by domestic and 
family violence. To support affected 
employees, we offer as much paid 
leave as they need to navigate their 
situation. We also provide up to 
five days’ paid leave to employees 
helping an immediate family or 
household member. 

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW28

29

OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

Good business 
practice

100%

of Australian electricity 
needs now sourced from 
renewable energy, 10 years 
ahead of target

$5.4bn

in low carbon project financing

11 days

average time to payment 
for small business suppliers; 
moved to immediate 
payment terms for small 
businesses during COVID-19

Building partnerships 

The Bank’s heritage and scale 
means that we have a responsibility 
to contribute to a strong economy 
and a trusted and resilient financial 
system. We can achieve this when we 
work transparently and constructively 
with government, regulators, industry 
associations and the community. 

During the coronavirus pandemic, we 
have been working with the industry, 
the government and regulators to 
quickly mobilise a broad range of 
support and stimulus measures. By 
working together, we have been able 
to get money into the economy and 
take pressure off households and 
businesses by offering lower cost 
loans and loan repayment deferrals. 
This collaborative environment has 
also enabled unprecedented change 
and accelerated innovation in the 
sector, including increased adoption 
of electronic payments and digital 
engagement by the community. 

To help the government and regulators 
get a gauge on how the economy, 
businesses and individuals are faring, 
we are providing access to aggregated 
real-time banking and payments data. 
This data will continue to help policy 

makers design policies that support 
economic recovery over the longer-term. 

To drive increased customer choice, 
competition and innovation, we 
have been an active participant 
in initiatives such as Open Banking, 
Comprehensive Credit Reporting 
and the New Payments Platform.

To support financial and economic 
stability more broadly, we contribute 
to initiatives that address financial 
crime and cyber security. As a member 
of the Fintel Alliance we work with 
Australian and international regulators 
to combat money laundering and 
terrorism financing; and through 
our cyber security program we 
invest in cyber skills education and 
capacity building to strengthen 
system-wide resilience. 

We are also committed to making 
the changes necessary to restore 
and maintain trust in the Bank and 
our industry. We have participated 
in more than 65 government inquiries 
in recent years which have led to 
changes in legislation, regulation 
and industry practice. 

Managing 
environmental 
and social risks
We manage environmental and social 
risks in our operations, lending 
activities, and superannuation and 
investment business. This includes 
minimising our environmental footprint 
and supporting the transition to a low 
carbon economy, as well as identifying 
and improving human rights impacts 
through our value chain. 

Our Environmental and Social Policy 
outlines our commitments and 
targets, as well as how we manage 
the risks and identify opportunities. 

We are committed to playing our part 
in limiting climate change in line with 
the goals of the Paris Agreement and 
supporting the responsible global 
transition to net zero emissions by 
2050. This year, we achieved our target 
to source 100% renewable electricity 
for our Australian power needs, 10 
years ahead of our 2030 deadline. As at 
30 June 2020, we had total committed 
exposures of $5.4 billion to low carbon 
projects, including $4.2 billion in 
renewable energy exposure.

All institutional bank loans, as well 
as large loans in other business units, 
are evaluated through a compulsory 
ESG Risk Assessment Tool. Annual 
training is undertaken by the relevant 
client, risk and product teams to 
ensure they are up-to-date with 
requirements. 

ESG risks are also incorporated into 
our investment decisions to deliver 
sustainable, long-term outcomes. 

  For more information on how we 
manage climate change risk and 
opportunities, see pages 38–45 
of the 2020 Annual Report.

Responsible 
investing

Our investment and 
superannuation business, Colonial 
First State (CFS), has exited 
all investments in companies 
associated with the production 
of tobacco and controversial 
weapons across its bond and 
equity portfolios. The exclusion 
applies to all fund managers 
engaged by CFS, and was 
achieved as at 31 December 2019. 

Managing our 
supply chain 

We have more than 7,200 Australian 
and international suppliers so 
it is important that we fulfil our 
responsibilities to those businesses as 
well as manage potential risks. 

We are a signatory to the Australian 
Supplier Payment Code which requires 
us to pay eligible Australian small 
business suppliers on time and within 
30 days of receiving an invoice. This 
year, our average payment time for 
these suppliers was 11 days; and to 
keep cash flowing during COVID-19 we 
changed all payment terms for small 
businesses to immediate payment. 

Our Supplier Code of Conduct outlines 
how we manage supply-chain risks 
such as data security and privacy, 
human rights, modern slavery, 
environmental impact, and bribery and 
corruption. We require all suppliers to 
acknowledge this code as part of their 
contractual agreement with us.

Minimising the risk 
of modern slavery

Our approach to human rights and 
modern slavery is guided by our 
Environmental and Social Policy. 
We engage with new and existing 
suppliers to actively identify, manage 
and mitigate these issues. This year we 
added detailed questions on modern 
slavery to our tender questionnaires for 
all new supplier arrangements; and we 
updated our Supplier Code of Conduct 
to provide guidance to suppliers on 
how we will work with them when 
issues are suspected or identified. 

We undertook country and industry 
level risk analysis of key suppliers. For 
our property operations, this identified 
that the high risk suppliers were in 
construction, catering, cleaning and 
security services. We then asked 
these suppliers to provide detailed 
information on their policies, processes 
and remediation mechanisms. We 
also sought advice from the Mekong 
Club on supply chain due diligence 
and invited Be Slavery Free to present 
to key property services suppliers 
to build awareness. 

We will release our Modern Slavery 
Statement in the 2021 financial year as 
required under the Modern Slavery Act 
2018 (Cth). 

  Our annual Modern Slavery and Human 
Trafficking statement which responds 
to UK requirements is available at 
commbank.com.au/CRreporting

Banking 
Code of 
Practice

As a member of the Australian 
Banking Association we 
helped develop the new 
Banking Code of Practice 
which came into effect on 
1 July 2019. The code adds 
new protections for vulnerable 
customers, loan guarantors, 
co-borrowers and small 
business customers. 

Political donations

Our Group External Communications 
and Engagement Policy explicitly 
precludes the Bank from making 
political donations. We may, however, 
pay to attend some political events 
aimed at the business community. 
To attend these events in the 2020 
financial year we contributed $70,500 
to the Australian Labor Party, $70,000 
to the Liberal Party of Australia 
and $11,175 to the National Party 
of Australia. These payments are 
disclosed in line with the requirements 
of Federal and State governments. 

Industry associations 

The Bank is a member of a number 
of industry associations and we 
participate both through those 
associations and directly with policy 
makers in the development and 
advocacy of public policy positions. 
Industry associations represent 
a range of members with diverse 
interests so the policy positions 
adopted by an industry association 
should not be assumed to represent 
the views of the Bank. 

Relevant UN Sustainable 
Development Goals

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW 
30

31

OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

Our progress

Phase 1–2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Pre-FY19

FY19

FY20

FY21

Our approach to 
climate change

Climate change poses a significant risk 
to our environment, our economy and our 
community, and is a source of both risks and 
opportunities for the Bank. We are committed 
to playing our part in limiting climate change 
in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement 
and supporting the responsible global 
transition to net zero emissions by 2050. 

To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, action over the next decade to 2030 
is crucial while supporting the financial wellbeing of our customers, communities 
and the Australian economy. 

Since 2018 we have been disclosing our progress, performance and plans in 
line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial 
Disclosures (TCFD). The first three phases of our approach to climate change 
focused on establishing the governance and deep analysis required to better 
understand climate risks and opportunities. In the current fourth phase, 
we are focused on incorporating climate considerations into our strategy across 
all business units, and enhancing our approach to risk management.

The recent bushfires resulted in heightened attention from customers, investors, 
regulators and the community on the role businesses play in addressing and 
managing environmental and social impacts. This year, we have continued 
to take proactive steps to support our customers and clients, and contribute 
to economy-wide initiatives that support a sustainable and resilient economy.

Phase 1
Pre-FY18
Policy, due diligence, 
governance

Phase 2 
FY18
Analysis of portfolio 
risks and opportunities

Phase 3 
FY19
Extending scenario 
analysis, developing 
strategic responses, 
capability building

Phase 4 
FY20–21
Embedding climate 
considerations into 
strategy, business 
and risk management 
processes

Action

Governance

Oversight of climate risks by the Board Risk & Compliance 
Committee and Executive Leadership Team (ELT) through 
the Risk Management Framework 

Group Environmental and Social (E&S) Policy clarifying 
Board and subsidiary Boards’ oversight and Management 
accountability for E&S risk, including climate change

Group E&S Framework outlining climate commitments 
(reviewed on an ongoing basis) 

Review and update Responsible Investment Policy 
in Colonial First State (CFS)

Strategy

Commitment to support the objectives of the 
Paris Agreement 

Climate scenario analysis:

• Business lending: transition risks. 

Home lending and insurance: physical risks. 
FirstChoice Australian Share Fund: transition risks.

• Agribusiness lending: physical risks.

• Business lending: physical risks.

• Retail (home lending) and insurance: transition risks.

Develop and integrate strategic responses to address 
climate change through our own business actions, 
as well as through our broader role with our customers 
and communities

Risk 
management

Climate incorporated into the Risk Management 
Framework as a strategic risk and a driver of financial 
and non-financial risks 

Group Risk Appetite Statement annual review

Update our business lending policies in the E&S 
Framework to support the responsible transition 
to a net zero emissions economy by 2050

Undertake analysis of emissions intensity of our business 
lending portfolio and Energy Value Chain to track 
performance of supporting the transition to a net zero 
emissions economy 

Ongoing development and evolution of our ESG Risk 
Assessment tool for business lending

Expansion of climate change metrics aggregated 
across the entire CFS portfolio

Metrics and 
targets

Emissions reduction targets (Scope 1 and 2)

RE100 commitment to source 100% renewable energy by 
2030 (achieved for Australian operations)

Targeting an average emissions intensity decrease of our 
business lending portfolio

Set new emissions reduction targets:
• Science-based emissions reduction target (Scope 1 and 2)

• Scope 3 emissions reduction target

 More information on our approach to climate change is available on pages 38–45 of the 2020 Annual Report .

Key:

 Complete

 Ongoing

 Future activity

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW32

33

FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE

Key sustainability metrics 1

Sustainability 
performance overview

To achieve our objective of balanced and 
sustainable outcomes, we set targets for, 
measure and report a range of material customer, 
environmental, social and governance metrics. 1

Women in leadership 
in Executive Manager 
and above roles by 2025

41.2%

Target
40%
by 2020

New target
47–50%
by 2025

Mobile app NPS 2

 0.4 on FY19

Target: #1 in mobile app NPS

We continue to extend our 
digital leadership and have 
maintained our #1 position. 

Key

 CBA

 Peers

50

40

30

20

10

0

37.6

JUL 17

JUL 18

JUL 19

JUN 20

Low carbon funding 3

Customer NPS4

 7.1 on FY19

$5.4bn

Target
$15bn
by 2025

Target: #1 in consumer NPS

By focusing on delivering better 
customer outcomes we have 
seen a seven point improvement 
in the last 12 months.

Key

 CBA

 Peers

20

10

0

-10

-20

(2.9)

JUL 17

JUL 18

JUL 19

JUN 20

Greenhouse gas emissions

Business NPS 5

 8.1 on FY19

1.9tCO2-e 

per FTE

Target
2.0tCO2-e 
per FTE by 2020

Target: #1 in business NPS

We are narrowing the gap in 
business NPS, gaining eight 
points in the last 12 months. 

0

-5

-10

-15

-20

-25

-30

-35

(14.3)

Customer metrics

#

30 Jun 20

30 Jun 19

30 Jun 18

30 Jun 17

30 Jun 16

Commonwealth Bank – Net Promoter Score
Consumer NPS
Business NPS
Internet banking NPS
Mobile app NPS
Customer complaints
Resolved
Escalated to an external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme 

(2.9)
(14.3)
31.1 
37.6 

(10.0)
(22.4)
30.9
37.2

(2.7)
(19.6)
31.3 
37.8

45,324 
5,480 

40,588 
4,695 

33,530 
–

(0.3)
(13.1)
–
–

–
–

(0.7)
(13.0)
–
–

–
–

Environmental metrics

Low carbon funding

– Renewable energy lending exposure

Business lending emissions intensity

Climate bond arrangement

30 Jun 20

30 Jun 19

30 Jun 18

30 Jun 17

30 Jun 16

$m

$m
kgCO 2-e/AUD
$m

5,374 

4,225 

N/A

9,490

5,134 

3,644 

0.26 

1,845

4,575 

3,716 

0.26 

2,014

–

2,800 

0.28 

1,018

–

2,200 

0.29 

50

Group

Scope 1 emissions

Scope 2 emissions

Scope 3 emissions

Scope 1 and 2 per FTE

tCO 2-e
tCO 2-e
tCO 2-e
tCO 2-e

10,840 

103,528 

7,624 

8,740 

9,694 

9,063 

78,757 

87,277 

96,595 

107,762 

47,151 

99,580

85,754 

91,150 

93,622 

1.8 

1.9 

2.1 

2.3 

2.6 

Social – our people metrics

% 30 Jun 20

30 Jun 19

30 Jun 18

30 Jun 17

30 Jun 16

Gender diversity

Women in Manager and above roles 

Women in Executive Manager and above roles

Women in Senior Leadership (Group Executives)

45

41.2

27.3

45

39.1

22.2

68

73.9

20.0

72

73.7

–

78

69.4

–

Employee engagement and flexible working

Apr 20

Oct 19

Apr 19

Apr 18

Apr 17

Employee engagement index – CBA

Employees working flexibly

81

–

72

66.0

68

73.9

72

73.7

78

69.4

Social – community metrics

Community investment

Total community investment

Community investment as a percentage of pre-tax profit

Financial literacy programs

School banking students (active)

Start Smart students (booked)

Indigenous community support

Indigenous Customer Assistance Line (calls received)

30 Jun 20

30 Jun 19

30 Jun 18

30 Jun 17

30 Jun 16

$m

%

332.3 

3.2 

288.4 

290.0 

266.0 

262.6 

2.4 

2.2 

2.0 

2.0 

#

#

#

174,997 

377,214 

244,636 

299,074 

321,389 

325,797 

427,527 

568,649 

574,246 

557,475 

206,436 

202,444 

180,225 

168,218 

170,789 

Australian Indigenous supplier spend – first tier

$’000

4,395 

2,959 

–

–

–

Key

 CBA

 Peers

JUL 17

JUL 18

JUL 19

JUN 20

Governance metrics 

30 Jun 20

30 Jun 19

30 Jun 18

30 Jun 17

30 Jun 16

1  All metrics capture data of the wholly owned and operated entities of the Group, associates and joint ventures unless otherwise stated.

2  Roy Morgan Research Mobile app Net Promoter Score. See Glossary on pages 294–300 of the 2020 Annual Report for details.

3  For definition see Glossary on pages 294–300 of the 2020 Annual Report.

4  DBM Consumer Net Promoter Score. See Glossary on pages 294–300 of the 2020 Annual Report for details.

5  DBM Business Net Promoter Score. See Glossary on pages 294–300 of the 2020 Annual Report for details.

Female Directors on Board

Misconduct cases resulting in termination

SpeakUP Program cases

– Whistleblower cases

%

#

#

#

56 

136 

284 

103 

50 

 187 

 311 

 30 

40 

– 

 143 

 33 

40 

 – 

 171 

 44 

33 

 – 

 – 

 – 

1  For all of CBA’s sustainability metrics, together with information on sources, methodologies and definitions, see pages 47–52 and 294–300 of the Annual Report.

  PwC has provided limited assurance on these metrics for the year ended 30 June 2020, except Net Promoter Score, business lending 
emissions intensity, climate bond arrangement and female Directors on Board. The PwC Limited Assurance Report is available on  
pages 53–54 in the 2020 Annual Report.

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW34

35

HOW WE CREATE VALUE

Responding to COVID-19 risks

Managing our 
changing risk 
landscape

The external operating environment altered 
materially this year, resulting in rapid and 
dynamic changes to the risk landscape. The recent 
strengthening of our risk framework has positioned 
the Bank well to respond to these risks and support 
our customers and the community.

In recent years, banks 
have been adapting to 
a range of new and evolving 
risks such as uncertain 
macroeconomic conditions, 
the advancement of new 
technologies and competitors, 
and increasing societal and 
regulatory expectations.

Events of the last year have 
introduced new risks or altered 
existing risks:

COVID-19 impacts – uncertainty 
exists regarding the duration and 
severity of COVID-19 impacts and the 
associated disruption to the domestic 
and global economy. While there has 
been significant government support 
and stimulus, we expect challenging 
economic conditions ahead. In 
the longer term we anticipate 
increased credit losses from business 
insolvencies, higher consumer 
defaults due to unemployment and 
slower overall growth. 

Global tensions – geopolitical 
issues and trade disputes are 
creating uncertainty for Australian 
and global businesses, which could 
further exacerbate economic 
conditions and increase cyber 
and privacy risks.

Increase in financial crime – 
the availability of financial 
support packages creates new 
opportunities for financial 
criminals to exploit the larger 
number of vulnerable people 
and businesses.

Climate change risk – this 
year’s bushfires and floods have 
highlighted the physical impacts 
of climate change and the 
increased frequency and severity 
of extreme weather events. 

Increased regulatory  
scrutiny – the Bank and its 
operations are subject to 
heightened regulatory scrutiny 
and requirements as well 
as potential regulatory and 
legal action.

  More information is available on pages 55–61 in the 2020 Annual Report.

The Board and Management 
of the Bank understand the 
importance of good risk 
management to the financial 
wellbeing of our customers, 
shareholders, the community 
and the broader economy.

We therefore remain focused 
on improving the Bank’s risk 
management discipline. This 
focus in recent years, including on 
business continuity planning, has 
equipped our teams to exercise 
sound judgement and mobilise 
rapidly to support customers 
through the challenges of the 
bushfires, drought and the 
COVID-19 pandemic. 

Our historically sound credit 
risk management practices and 
resilient systems have also enabled 
the Bank to offer a range of relief 
measures to support individuals 
and businesses. Positive customer 
feedback has reinforced that the 
investment and efforts being made 
to improve the Bank’s risk culture 
are driving meaningful change.

The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly 
introduced an array of new and 
elevated risks to the safety of 
our people, the resilience of our 
operations, the strength of our 
balance sheet and the financial 
security of our customers and 
the community. Action has been 
required to address these risks, 
particularly in the following areas:

Employee health and safety
The increased risk to the safety and 
welfare of our workforce has been 
of paramount concern during the 
COVID-19 pandemic. The measures 
introduced to support and protect 
our people, and to ensure they are 
equipped with the information and 
resources they need, are outlined 
in Commitment to our people and 
Board priorities during 2020 on 
pages 34–35 and 63 of the 2020 
Annual Report, respectively. 

Customer welfare 
The long term prosperity of the 
Bank ultimately depends on 
the financial wellbeing of our 
customers. The prolonged closure 
of businesses, particularly in the 
service industry, combined with 
the impact of restrictions on 
regional and international travel, 
has threatened the livelihoods of 
millions of Australians. We have 
been committed to supporting our 
customers during this time, while still 
focusing on maintaining responsible 
credit risk decisions. The assistance 
and relief measures we are providing 
are outlined in Supporting our 
customers on pages 22–23.

Operational resilience
During the initial stages of COVID-19, 
the Bank had to respond quickly 
to changing circumstances. This 
increased the risk of introducing 
operational vulnerabilities into our 
processes, and created general 
uncertainty over the stability of 
global supply chains and the potential 
impact on third-party suppliers. The 
shift to remote working also added a 
level of disruption to our operations, 
and increased our cyber, privacy and 
conduct risk profiles. 

During this time, our focus was on 
protecting the stability of the Bank’s 
critical operations and supporting our 
customers. To ensure there was no 
disruption of services to customers, 
we initiated a temporary technology 
production change freeze.

We also implemented infrastructure 
changes to increase the reliability and 
speed of remote working operations 
for critical functions, and increased 
our oversight of critical suppliers. 
To enable our teams to prioritise 
customer support, we slowed certain 
non-essential projects – excluding 
those with regulatory commitments 
– and temporarily moderated risk 
framework requirements for lower 
risk activities. We also hired new 
employees and redeployed almost 
500 team members to service 
increased customer queries and 
hardship requests.

Financial strength 
Notwithstanding the range of 
relief measures made available 
to businesses and individuals, 
the depth and severity of COVID-19 
related impacts on the economy 
are uncertain. 

In anticipation of the potential 
impact on our customers, we have 
increased our forward-looking loan 
loss provisions. These have been 
determined based on a range of 
plausible economic and industry stress 
factors, and take into account the 
mitigating impacts of Government 
and industry assistance packages and 
support, including loan repayment 
deferral arrangements. We continue 
to monitor our lending portfolios 
closely, with stress testing forming 
the basis for ongoing re-assessments 
of provisioning levels as the 
situation evolves.

Cyber risk
There has been a global increase 
in cyber crime during COVID-19 as 
cyber criminals seek to gain financially 
from people’s vulnerability, or exploit 
potential weaknesses introduced 
through rapid operational changes 
implemented by businesses. Through 
our cyber security program, we 
continue to enhance the Bank’s 
cyber defences and have focused on 
educating staff and customers on the 
dangers of cyber crime activities.

Financial crime
Social distancing restrictions during 
the height of the pandemic made 
complying with customer verification 
obligations under the Anti-Money 
Laundering and Counter-Terrorism 
Financing (AML/CTF) regime difficult 
where customers are required to 
present in person at a branch. Special 
relief was provided by AUSTRAC 
to allow alternative verification 
procedures in these situations, 
such as video calls. 

The significant number of financial 
support packages made available 
to millions of Australians whose 
employment has been impacted 
by COVID-19 has increased the 
opportunity for those seeking to 
commit financial crimes. This new risk 
has been factored into our financial 
crime detection processes and staff 
financial crime compliance education 
and awareness programs.

Managing market volatility
In early March, global markets 
experienced extreme volatility, 
mainly due to COVID-19 and the 
oil price shock. In response, the 
Board approved a temporary 
three-month increase in the Market 
Risk intervention levels outlined in 
the Group Risk Appetite Statement. 

Volatility is expected to continue 
in the current environment, 
requiring ongoing close 
monitoring by management.

Ongoing monitoring
The COVID-19 situation continues to 
evolve both locally and globally and 
will likely present new challenges and 
risks in the short to medium term. 
The Board and Management continue 
to actively monitor the situation 
and adapt our response as required 
to maintain our financial strength 
and ensure our customers and the 
community are supported through 
these challenging times.

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW36

37

Our current risk priorities

This section describes the specific risks within our material risk types where the Board and the 
Executive Leadership Team are focusing their efforts. It includes a mix of existing and emerging 
risks that could materially impact our ability to serve our customers or deliver our strategy.

Macroeconomic environment

Cyber security and data management

Financial crime

Digital disruption

Our business performance is closely linked to the 
performance of the Australian and New Zealand 
economies, which in turn are impacted by events 
in the global economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in prolonged 
closures of businesses, predominantly in service 
industries. We expect challenging economic conditions 
ahead. In the longer term we anticipate increased 
credit losses from business insolvencies, and higher 
consumer defaults due to unemployment. 

Credit growth has slowed and house prices may 
decline due to increasing unemployment and a sharp 
fall in immigration rates.

Uncertainty exists regarding the duration and severity 
of COVID-19 impacts and the associated disruption to 
the local and global economy. 

Geopolitical tensions and trade disputes are creating 
uncertainty for businesses, which could further 
exacerbate economic conditions.

The Bank manages a large volume of sensitive data. 
The regulatory landscape is increasingly focused on the 
privacy, integrity and appropriate management of data 
throughout its lifecycle. Data governance tools, standards 
and procedures to meet these expectations are currently 
not consistently embedded across the Group. 

Information security risks for the Group have increased 
in recent years due to the evolution and development 
of new technologies, the Group’s increasing use of 
digital channels, and the increased sophistication and 
broadened activities of cyber criminals.

Cyber attacks have the potential to cause financial 
system instability. A successful cyber attack could 
result in a serious disruption to customer banking 
services or compromise customer data privacy.

Currently, cyber criminals are also motivated to exploit 
potential or perceived weaknesses introduced through 
rapid operational changes implemented in this 
environment.

Key actions we are taking

Key actions we are taking

•  The Bank has the backing of a strong balance 
sheet with strong deposit funding, significant 
excess liquidity and unquestionably strong capital. 

•  We undertake regular stress tests to 

understand how our business performs and 
to prepare alternative action plans for a range 
of economic scenarios.

•  We will continue to support our customers 

whilst adhering to, and if necessary, revising 
credit policies, procedures and tools to support 
responsible credit decisions in this new 
environment.

•  We have increased our loan loss provisions in 

anticipation of the potential impact of COVID-19 
on our customers, and continue to monitor 
our lending portfolios closely, with detailed 
stress testing forming the basis for ongoing re-
assessments of provisioning levels.

•  Investment is underway to enhance the 

systems and data necessary for credit reporting 
and portfolio management, particularly 
in the non-retail parts of our business.

•  We regularly discuss the macroeconomic 

challenges with both regulators and government.

•  A cyber security program is in place to enhance 
the Bank’s cyber defences against a continually 
increasing threat environment. This includes 
focus on enhanced detection and monitoring 
infrastructure, as well as security configuration 
and vulnerability management capabilities.

•  We also collaborate with a range of government, 
community and industry bodies to strengthen 
system-level resilience and to reduce the 
possibility of cyber attacks and the impact 
of fraud and scams on the community.

•  Our data management program of work 
is focused on strengthening our Data 
Management Framework across the Group. 
This involves enhancing our methodology, 
architecture, tools, standards and procedures 
across all business areas, to ensure the quality 
and integrity of data throughout its lifecycle. 
As part of this work, we are prioritising the data 
management practices for the most critical data 
elements across the Group.

•  The Bank has a privacy strategy to enhance 

our data privacy processes, capabilities 
and awareness to ensure compliance in all 
jurisdictions where we have a presence. 

Banks have a critical role to play in combating financial 
crime and protecting the integrity of the financial system. 
Not detecting or preventing financial crimes can have 
a significant impact on our customers and the community 
and can result in material fines and penalties for the Bank.

The Bank’s Program of Action continues to address the 
underlying causes of the Anti-Money Laundering and 
Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Act failings 
that resulted in AUSTRAC commencing enforcement 
action against the Bank in 2017. 

There is currently a higher risk of financial crime 
because of increased opportunities through the 
number of financial support packages available, 
combined with an increase in the number of 
vulnerable people and businesses.

Emerging technologies and regulatory changes such 
as Open Banking and Comprehensive Credit Reporting 
are making it easier for neobanks, fintechs and 
technology companies to compete directly in banking. 

The emergence of new technologies, like Artificial 
Intelligence (AI), is driving the digitisation and 
automation of processes and requires a different 
set of skills that may be difficult for the Bank 
to attract and retain. 

The adoption of AI can be a differentiator. However, 
if poorly implemented or managed in areas such as 
lending decisions, the use of AI could create data 
privacy concerns or deliver incorrect results with 
potentially poor financial, regulatory, conduct or 
reputational outcomes. 

Key actions we are taking

Key actions we are taking

•  Improvements being made through our 
multi-year Program of Action include:
 – Enhanced financial crime policies and procedures.
 – Investment in new technology, including 

enhanced transaction monitoring systems 
and processes, aimed at the detection of 
financial crime.

 – Establishing mechanisms and processes to 
improve customer data integrity through 
core systems. 

 – Revision of our Anti-Bribery & Corruption 

(AB&C) Policy and Standard, development 
of new tools, and implementation of a Group 
AB&C control framework.

 – A significant increase in specialised Financial 

Crime Compliance team members and 
enhanced financial crime compliance 
education and training for staff aimed at 
deterring and detecting financial crime.
 – A high level of engagement with the 

Fintel Alliance.

 – Constructive engagement with AUSTRAC 

and international regulators.

•  Given the links between human trafficking and 
financial crime, we continue to strengthen our 
supply chain due diligence by embedding new 
modern slavery requirements into procurement 
policies, processes and capabilities. 

•  We also collaborate with not-for-profit 

organisations that work with the private 
sector to detect and end modern slavery, 
including the Mekong Club.

•  Being ‘Best in digital’ is a key pillar of the 

Bank’s strategy. We continue to invest to deliver 
the best digital banking experiences for our 
customers through new digital services, market-
leading technology, seamless service across 
channels and data driven insights.

•  We have invested in digital infrastructure and 

assets over many years to achieve a leadership 
position in digital banking. Most recently, this 
includes our Customer Engagement Engine which 
uses AI and machine learning to drive personalised 
and innovative services for customers. 

•  Our mobile banking app and internet banking 

platform both consistently score highest among 
major bank peers for Net Promoter Score and in 
independent surveys.

•  We are investing in digital businesses that 

add to our core product offering and extend 
our ‘Best in digital’ leadership. This includes 
the launch of our x15ventures incubator which 
is working with innovators to identify, fund 
and build new digital banking businesses. 

•  We are modernising and simplifying our 

systems and digitising our end-to-end processes 
to reduce risk and cost and to improve system 
availability and resilience. 

•  We have developed tools and guidelines 
for the safe and fair use of AI across our 
business. We are also actively engaged in the 
development of national and international 
standards regarding the safe and fair use of AI.

•  We monitor emerging technologies and 

research and test the adoption of new, innovative 
capabilities to maintain our technology leadership.

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW38

39

Business resilience

Skills and capabilities

Trust and reputation

Climate change

The continuity and resilience of our operations 
are crucial for serving our customers, upholding 
community trust, and maintaining our reputation. 
The extended outage of the Bank’s payments 
platform in October 2019 highlighted the impact 
such disruptions can have on customers and 
the community.

The risk of potential disruption to parts of our 
operations is currently elevated due to: the possibility 
that COVID-19 clusters could impact the safety 
of employees, disrupt operations and reduce 
productivity; uncertainty over the stability of global 
supply chains and the impact on third-party suppliers; 
and natural disasters such as bushfires and floods.

Our people are critical to the success of our strategy 
and an inability to attract or retain the right talent 
and capabilities could prevent us from delivering our 
long-term goals.

The progression of new technologies, changing 
macroeconomic conditions, and increasing regulatory 
expectations, increases the need for leaders with 
new and different skill sets, as well as deep banking 
expertise, to deliver the performance expected by 
our stakeholders. 

These skills may become more difficult to attract 
and retain, particularly with the emergence of 
non-traditional technology competitors who aim 
to compete directly in banking.

Key actions we are taking

Key actions we are taking

•  The safety and welfare of our employees is of 
paramount importance. To manage risks from 
COVID-19, physical distancing measures have 
been implemented at branches to protect staff 
and customers, and we have implemented a 
range of measures to provide our non-branch 
team members with the necessary tools and 
skills to maximise productivity in a remote 
working environment.

•  We monitor the health of our systems and 

perform contingency planning for disruptions 
to critical systems and processes. 

•  A data centre and network modernisation 

program is improving the security and resilience 
of our technology infrastructure. 

•  We are driving greater agility and alignment 
in our supplier partnerships to ensure we 
effectively mitigate risks across the supply chain.

•  Our supplier initiatives are driving greater 

consistency and rigour over supplier governance 
and performance monitoring, especially over 
partners supporting critical systems, or the 
infrastructure on which those systems rely.

•  We continue to invest in our value proposition 

as an employer through:

 – Offering flexible working models, competitive 
benefits, wellbeing programs and fostering 
an inclusive and diverse workforce. 

 – Leadership initiatives to develop the 

capabilities of our leaders and to equip 
them with the skills and approaches required 
to lead cultural and behavioural change 
throughout the organisation.

 – Strengthening our culture and remuneration 
frameworks to ensure employees are clear 
on expectations and accountabilities, always 
do what is right, are empowered to address 
issues, and demonstrate risk behaviours 
that lead to appropriate outcomes for 
all stakeholders.

•  We have targeted training programs to develop 
our people, including senior management, and 
our talent and career approach seeks to attract 
and retain high-calibre people by providing 
career opportunities that recognise people’s 
expertise, potential and aspiration.

•  We are piloting opportunities to re-skill 

and support our people to be ready for the 
workforce of the future, and are engaging with 
educators, government and the community 
to build these changes into our long-term 
workforce plan and capability roadmaps.

•  We continue to review the Bank’s remuneration 

framework to ensure that it supports our 
strategic objectives of attracting and retaining 
exceptional talent.

Trust in the Bank and our reputation was impacted by 
the failings identified in the APRA Prudential Inquiry 
Report into CBA and highlighted by the Financial 
Services Royal Commission. 

We recognise that trust takes time to build and can 
easily be eroded through poor decisions, failure to meet 
customer and community expectations, or by not 
complying with our regulatory obligations. As a provider 
of financial services, the Bank and its operations are 
currently subject to heightened regulatory scrutiny and 
requirements, particularly those relating to product 
development and distribution practices, privacy and 
customer complaints management.

The current high volume of new and proposed 
legislation will impact a number of areas in our 
business and will require material changes to 
operational processes. Failure to effectively 
implement these changes within the required 
timeframes could result in severe penalties and 
loss of trust by regulators and the community.

Australia has been experiencing frequent and 
extreme weather events, including the recent 
bushfires and east coast floods. This highlights the 
risks to our customers and our business of damage 
to property and assets. 

There is also an increasing risk of financial impacts to 
our business and our customers’ businesses as a result 
of the policy, legal, technology and market changes 
associated with the transition to a low carbon economy.

We seek to identify, assess and manage climate 
change risk in our core business areas, including 
lending and insurance. 

We also seek to manage the risk that the Bank’s 
assets, including those held as collateral or 
investments, could become impaired as a result 
of permanent physical damage or misalignment 
with new policy or community expectations.

Importantly, the transition to a low carbon 
economy also creates opportunities for the Bank.

Key actions we are taking

Key actions we are taking

•  Through our Remedial Action Plan, good 
progress is being made in driving towards 
a risk culture of accountability, empowerment, 
constructive challenge, reflection and striving 
for best practice risk management.

•  We are addressing the Royal Commission 
recommendations and implementing the 
necessary changes.

•  Our Code of Conduct ensures all staff have 

a clear understanding of what it means to do 
the right thing by asking ‘Should We?’ when 
making decisions.

•  Trust and reputation is a performance measure 

in Group Executives’ long-term variable 
remuneration.

•  We work with government and regulators 

to deliver industry-wide improvements and 
initiatives to support a trustworthy and reliable 
financial services sector. 

•  Our SpeakUP/Whistleblowing program allows 

current employees – their spouses, dependants 
and relatives – as well as former employees, 
contractors, consultants and suppliers, 
to anonymously raise a conduct issue.

•  We have implemented policy frameworks 

for considering environmental, social 
and governance (ESG) issues, including 
climate change. 

•  We are progressively performing climate 

change scenario analyses on our credit and 
insurance portfolios to understand potential 
impacts and opportunities.

•  We are developing strategic responses to 

climate change, which includes strengthening 
our due diligence processes, considering our 
range of products and services, and building 
internal and customer capabilities to support 
the economy’s transition to net zero emissions 
by 2050.

•  Our approach to climate governance, strategy, 
risk management and metrics and targets, in 
line with the recommendations of the Task 
Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, 
is discussed in detail on pages 38–45 of the 
2020 Annual Report.

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW62
40

41

Board of Directors

HOW WE CREATE VALUE

Executive Leadership Team

Our approach to 
corporate governance

Catherine Livingstone AO 
Chairman
Board Committees: Nominations 
(Chairman), Audit, Risk & Compliance, 
People & Remuneration

Genevieve Bell AO 
Wendy Stops 
Good governance is key to the Bank’s ability 
Independent Non-Executive Director
Independent Non-Executive Director
to deliver on our purpose and strategy.

Board Committees: Nominations

Board Committees: Audit, 
People & Remuneration

We are continuing to improve governance, 
accountability and risk management. Clearer lines 
of accountability and stronger risk management 
practices are improving our ability to meet 
regulatory and compliance obligations and 
deliver on the expectations of our customers 
and the community more broadly. 
Matt Comyn 
Managing Director and  
Chief Executive Officer

Board Committees: Nil

Our Corporate Governance Framework

Our Corporate Governance Framework is based on 
accountability, effective delegation and adequate oversight 
to support sound decision-making. The Board is responsible 
for setting the strategic direction and risk appetite of the 
Bank, and for leading the culture, values and behaviours 
of our people. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and 
Executive Leadership Team (ELT) are responsible for the 
management of the Bank and for bringing important issues 
to the attention of Board. The Board monitors and assesses 
performance and holds management to account.

Anne Templeman-Jones 
Independent Non-Executive Director

Board Committees: Audit (Chairman), 
Risk & Compliance

Paul O’Malley 
Independent Non-Executive Director

Board Committees: People 
& Remuneration (Chairman), 
Risk & Compliance

Stakeholders

CBA Board

Nominations  
Committee

Risk & 
Compliance  
Committee

People & 
Remuneration 
Committee

Mary Padbury 
Independent Non-Executive Director

Board Committees: Nominations, 
People & Remuneration

CEO

Executive Leadership Team

Audit  
Committee

t
n
e
m
e
g
Shirish Apte 
a
n
Independent Non-Executive Director
a
m
Board Committees: Audit, 
k
s
Risk & Compliance
i
r
d
n
a
y
g
e
t
a
r
t
S

Independent  
assurance 
and advice
Including internal 
and external audit

Rob Whitfield AM 
Independent Non-Executive Director

Executive 
Board Committees: Risk 
Leadership  
& Compliance (Chairman), 
Team 
Nominations, Audit
Non-Financial  
Risk Committee

P
u
r
p
o
s
e

l

,
v
a
u
e
s
a
n
d
c
u
l
t
u
r
e

Pascal Boillat
Group Executive, Enterprise Services 
and Chief Information Officer

Priscilla Brown
Group Executive, Marketing and 
Corporate Affairs

David Cohen
Deputy Chief Executive Officer 

Alan Docherty
Group Executive, Financial Services 
and Chief Financial Officer 

Andrew Hinchliff 
Group Executive, Institutional Banking 
and Markets

Sian Lewis
Group Executive, Human Resources 

Carmel Mulhern
Group General Counsel and Group 
Executive, Legal & Group Governance

Vittoria Shortt
Chief Executive and Managing 
Director, ASB Bank Ltd

Angus Sullivan
Group Executive,  
Retail Banking Services

Simon Moutter will be appointed to the Board as an independent Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 September 2020.
Wendy Stops will retire as a Non-Executive Director at the conclusion of the 2020 Annual General Meeting.

Our people

 Detailed information on Board members’ skills and experience is available on pages 67–69 of the 2020 Annual Report.

Policies, systems and processes

Key 

 Delegation 

 Accountability

Corporate Governance Statement

Our Corporate Governance Statement (Statement) provides detailed information on our corporate governance frameworks.

  The Statement and the Board and Board Committee Charters are available at commbank.com.au/corporategovernance

Mike Vacy-Lyle
Group Executive, Business 
and Private Banking

Scott Wharton
Group Executive, Program Delivery 

Nigel Williams
Group Chief Risk Officer  

Adam Bennett ceased as Group Executive, Business and Private Banking on 31 January 2020.

 More information on the priorities and experience of ELT members is available on pages 70–71 of the 2020 Annual Report.

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW 
 
 
 
 
 
42

43

Five-year financial summary

Shareholder information

9,634

8,571

9,329

9,928

9,223

Interim dividend payment date 

Net interest income
Other operating income 2
Total operating income

Operating expenses

Loan impairment expense

Net profit before tax

Income tax expense

Non-controlling interests

Net profit after tax from continuing operations ("cash basis")
Net profit after tax from discontinued operations

Net profit after tax ("cash basis")
Treasury shares valuation adjustment

Hedging and IFRS volatility

(Loss)/gain on disposal of controlled entities/investments

Bankwest non-cash items

Net profit after income tax attributable to equity holders 
of the Bank "statutory basis"

Contributions to profit (after tax)
Retail Banking Services

Business and Private Banking

Institutional Banking and Markets

Wealth Management

New Zealand

Bankwest

IFS & other

Investment experience after tax

Net profit after tax "underlying basis"

Balance Sheet
Loans, bills discounted and other receivables

Total assets

Deposits and other public borrowings

Total liabilities 

Shareholders' Equity

Net tangible assets (including discontinued operations)

Risk weighted assets – Basel III (APRA)

Average interest earning assets

Average interest bearing liabilities

Assets (on Balance Sheet) – Australia

Assets (on Balance Sheet) – New Zealand

Assets (on Balance Sheet) – Other

Other information
Full-time equivalent employees from continuing operations 3
Full-time equivalent employees including discontinued operations

Branches/services centres (Australia)

Agencies (Australia)

ATMs

EFTPOS terminals (active)

30 Jun 20 
$M 

30 Jun 19 1
$M 

30 Jun 18 1
$M 

30 Jun 17 
$M 

30 Jun 16 
$M 

18,610

5,151

23,761

18,224

5,355

23,579

18,465

5,646

24,111

17,546

6,831

24,377

(10,895)

(10,824)

(10,653)

(10,129)

16,858

7,043

23,901

(9,957)

(1,256)

12,688

(1,095)

13,153

(3,752)

(3,497)

(13)

(20)

9,388

493

9,881

(23)

73

–

(3)

9,171

274

9,445

4

(199)

–

(27)

(2,518)

10,348

(3,052)

–

7,296

153

7,449

–

93

2,092

–

(1,201)

11,554

(3,321)

(12)

8,221

485

8,706

6

(79)

(61)

(1)

(1,079)

12,379

(3,779)

(13)

8,587

825

9,412

2

101

(183)

(3)

3,997

2,654

655

–

811

–

(821)

(4)

7,292

3,907

2,931

1,117

–

1,059

–

(793)

8,221

(3)

4,465

3,134

1,226

–

975

–

(1,213)

8,587

(2)

4,423

2,736

1,360

201

871

–

(203)

9,388

(7)

8,218

8,585

9,381

4,540

1,522

1,190

400

785

778

(44)

9,171

(24)

9,147

771,547

755,173

743,744

731,762

695,398

1,014,060

976,502

975,165

976,318

932,945

701,999

942,047

72,013

64,359

454,948

897,409

771,982

855,219

103,531

55,310

41,778

43,585

967

3,547

3,542

636,040

622,234

626,655

588,045

906,853

907,305

912,658

872,437

69,649

59,580

67,860

56,844

63,660

53,090

60,508

49,630

452,762

458,612

437,063

394,667

871,418

861,884

834,741

790,596

761,115

759,583

755,612

733,754

824,651

99,661

52,190

811,491

94,622

69,052

41,458

45,165

1,014

3,560

3,963

41,024

45,753

1,082

3,589

4,253

817,519

89,997

68,802

42,359

45,614

1,121

3,664

4,398

783,114

83,832

65,999

43,178

45,129

1,131

3,654

4,381

190,118

217,608

219,245

217,098

217,981

Net profit after tax from continuing operations ("cash basis")

7,296

1  Comparative information for 2019 and 2018 has been restated and presented on a continuing operations basis, and to reflect the change in accounting policy 

detailed in Note 1.1 of the 2020 Annual Report as well as refinements to the allocation of customer balances.

2  Includes investment experience.

3  Comparative information for 2019 and 2018 has been restated and presented on a continuing operations basis, and to reflect the change in accounting policy 

detailed in Note 1.1 of the 2020 Annual Report.

CBA Investor Relations 

Share Registrar

Telephone: +61 2 9118 7113 

Link Market Services Limited 

Email: cbainvestorrelations@cba.com.au 

Level 12, 680 George Street 

commbank.com.au/investors 

Sydney NSW 2000 

International locations 

commbank.com.au/
internationallocations

Mail: Link Market Services Limited  

Locked Bag A14 Sydney South NSW 1235 

Telephone: +61 1800 022 440 

Email: cba@linkmarketservices.com.au 

linkmarketservices.com.au 

Registered office 

Ground Floor, Tower 1 

201 Sussex Street 

Sydney NSW 2000 

Telephone: +61 2 9378 2000 

Facsimile: +61 2 9118 7192 

commbank.com.au 

All other enquiries 

commbank.com.au/contactus

Financial calendar

2020 Annual General Meeting  

Half year results and interim dividend announcement date 

Full year results and final dividend announcement date 

Final dividend payment date 

2021 Annual General Meeting 

*  On or around.

13 October 2020

10 February 2021

30 March 2021 *

11 August 2021

29 September 2021 *

13 October 2021

Dates may be altered should circumstances require. Visit CBA’s Investor Centre at commbank.com.au/investors.

2020 corporate reporting suite

Our corporate reporting suite contains detailed information on CBA’s  
strategic priorities, risk management and corporate governance frameworks,  
as well as our financial, non-financial and sustainability performance.

Annual Report
An in-depth look at CBA’s strategy, operations 
and performance over the 2020 financial year.

Results information
CBA’s 2020 full year results materials, including 
our Profit Announcement and Results Presentation. 

  commbank.com.au/2020annualreport

  commbank.com.au/results

Corporate Governance Statement
Our Corporate Governance Statement summarises 
our practices for the 2020 financial year.

  commbank.com.au/corporategovernance

Notice of Meeting
Your guide to CBA’s 2020 Annual General Meeting.

  commbank.com.au/agm

Sustainability metrics
Download CBA’s customer, environmental, social and governance metrics – with definitions and mapping 
to international sustainability reporting standards.

  commbank.com.au/2020sustainabilitymetrics

Designed and produced by ArmstrongQ

CBA 1421 280820

COMMONWEALTH BANK2020 ANNUAL REVIEW