Financials
Market Cap: $125.63b
FY18 profit: $9.38b
FY18 revenue: $26.1b
Listed: 1991
CEO: Matt Comyn
CEO Salary: $2.85m
Revelations the bank had charged fees to dead customers were perhaps the most scandalous to come out of the hearings, but CBA was also embroiled in a money laundering investigation which cost it a $700 million civil penalty - the largest fine in Australian corporate history.
In November, CEO Matt Comyn admitted the bank had failed to give law enforcement agencies the necessary information in relation to intelligent automatic cash deposit machines (IDMs), which could have led to earlier prosecutions.Around the same time in October that CBA was taking steps to refund unauthorised fees on deceased estates and rebate grandfathered commissions, Slater and Gordon launched its 'Get Your Super Back' class action against the bank and its subsidiary Colonial First State.
The law firm alleges Colonial First State invested members' retirement savings with CBA at uncompetitive interest rates, and believes the claim could exceed $100 million.Shortly after, the bank's shares were almost 19 per cent lower than at the start of 2018, and at the time of preparing this list they have risen to levels that are around 9 per cent lower, partly thanks to a less punitive final Royal Commission report than expected.
Like all of Australia's major banks, CBA is reforming in a bid to regain the trust of customers.All senior leaders now have 20-30 per cent of their performance metrics tied to the company's Remedial Action Program, in theory incentivising both ethics and financial performance amongst executives.
The business model is also changing to stay competitive in a rapidly-changing and very uncertain global marketplace. The group is demerging its wealth management and mortgage brokering businesses, and meanwhile staying ahead of the curve with new technologies.In August CBA was chosen by the World Bank to deliver the world's first blockchain bond, playfully named 'bond-i', and only recently became Australia's first bank to provide Alipay an essential in-store payments system that has become an integral part of e-commerce for China.