CBA customers have say

AGM told 10,000 reply to request for feedback

MORE than 10,000 Commonwealth Bank customers have responded to chief executive Matt Comyn’s request for feedback on how the bank does business.

Mr Comyn (right) wrote to the bank’s 8 million customers after Australia’s largest lender became embroiled in a series of scandals including the moneylaundering law breaches that led to a $700 million fine and the departure of his predecessor.

The bank, which like its peers has been accused at the financial services royal commission of prioritising profits over customer wellbeing, is now considering how to address the responses.

“I have received more than 10,000 responses: a mixture of complaints, compliments, and general suggestions from our customers on how we can become a better bank,” Mr Comyn told yesterday’s annual general meeting in Brisbane. “My leadership team and I are personally engaging in longstanding disputes to review these with fresh eyes.” Mr Comyn said deputy chief executive David Cohen would take direct responsibility for complaints management.

He said Patricia Faulkner – the deputy commissioner at the 2015 royal commission on family violence – would chair an external advisory panel advising executives on how to engage customers, employees and the community.

Chairwoman Catherine Livingstone told the AGM that CBA, which yesterday announced first-quarter unaudited cash profit fell 5.7 per cent to $2.5 billion, acknowledged the criticism that customers had suffered from the bank’s focus on profitability.

“When people or processes failed, there were neither the systems nor processes in place to identify and fix the problems, nor a sufficient sense of urgency to identify the root cause, and take steps to prevent similar issues arising again,” Ms Livingstone said.

Commonwealth Bank in August posted a 4.8 per cent drop in full-year profit to $9.23 billion, hit by a total of more than $1 billion in antimoney laundering fines, customer remediation and royal commission costs.

First-quarter unaudited earnings fell as higher funding costs and competition put pressure on margins.

Cash earnings for the three months to September 30 fell from $2.65 billion a year ago, the bank said in a trading update ahead of yesterday’s annual general meeting.

Home lending grew 3.1 per cent on an annualised basis, below system growth of 3.6 per cent.