This Month
- Opinion
- Governance
The good, the bad and the ugly of corporate Australia in 2024
Big deals, big names, big disasters. From AirTrunk to Woolies to our own Nine Entertainment, here are the biggest moments of the year.
- James Thomson
How CBA’s $3 fee gambit nearly blew up the bank’s political capital
Bankers inside Commonwealth Bank’s retail division figured a small branch cash withdrawal charge was innocuous. They were wrong.
- Lucas Baird and James Eyers
Commonwealth Bank government relations tsar jumps to Blackstone
Euan Robertson is leaving the $265 billion bank and making a beeline for the world’s largest alternative asset manager.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Exclusive
- Chanticleer CEO poll
‘Australia is falling behind’: 55 CEOs demand election action
Top chief executives say the next federal government must make the nation’s crippling regulatory burden and housing supply top priorities.
- Updated
- James Thomson and Anthony Macdonald
CBA’s Matt Comyn on banking, politics and the economy
In a special episode, Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn speaks exclusively to the Chanticleer podcast about the bank’s runaway share price, where the economy is headed and why politics needs to change.
- Exclusive
- Banking products
CBA’s Comyn warns ‘troubling’ loss of trust will make reform harder
Matt Comyn has warned the economic reform Australia must pursue is only going to become more difficult if polarising attacks on the business community continue.
- James Thomson and Anthony Macdonald
UBS, Citi, ANZ and CBA navigate fraught Christmas parties
The investment bankers of Sydney held their year-end dos against a backdrop of complex contextual matters.
- Myriam Robin and Mark Di Stefano
Trophies and sequins as Australia’s business leaders gonged
A $70,000 Rolex and a sequined jacket show life is sweet for the victors, though the path isn’t always smooth.
- Updated
- Myriam Robin and Mark Di Stefano
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
No one has come out of CBA’s cash blunder looking good
The bank’s fee mess is an uncharacteristic stuff-up. But it’s also a missed opportunity to have proper debate about technology, economic growth and equity.
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Business People of the Year
Matt Comyn finds his voice – and delivers for shareholders
The CEO has driven the Commonwealth Bank from strength to strength, propelling him on to the 2024 The Australian Financial Review Business People of the Year list.
- James Eyers
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Business Person awards celebrate founder success
AirTrunk and Chemist Warehouse’s founder stories underline the importance of innovative and risk-taking entrepreneurship, perceptiveness, and persistence to build wealth- and job-creating enterprises.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Business People of the Year
Humble starts, billion-dollar deals unite Business Person of the Year winners
Founders of Chemist Warehouse Jack Gance, Sam Gance and Mario Verrocchi, and AirTrunk’s Robin Khuda take the top prize for 2024.
- James Thomson
CBA backs down on withdrawal fee after Chalmers leans on Comyn
Treasurer Jim Chalmers had called the $3 charge for branch withdrawals “unacceptable”. Australia’s largest bank reconsidered.
- James Eyers and John Kehoe
- Exclusive
- Big four
Banking rift exposed in fight against levy for rural services
The government has rejected a proposal by banks to pause regional branch closures instead of a mooted $350 million levy, as a rift deepens between Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief executive Matt Comyn and other bankers over the plan.
- John Kehoe
November
CBA prepares for AI to transform banking, with dozens of uses
The country’s biggest bank is already using AI to resolve 15,000 payment disputes every day. And its chief executive, Matt Comyn, says many more uses are on the way.
- James Eyers and Lucas Baird
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
CBA’s Matt Comyn on AI: ‘Are you at the table or on the menu?’
The pace of change in the world of AI in the past year has been stunning, the CBA boss says. But there are big strategic questions for the bank to work through.
- James Thomson
CBA’s Matt Comyn and the Jim Chalmers dinner switcheroo
Upon discovering their less-than-ideal location, rare is the dinner guest that hasn’t pondered taking matters into their own hands.
- Myriam Robin
- Exclusive
- Big four
Bankers split as Chalmers kicks off branch levy negotiations
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has kick-started face-to-face negotiations with bank CEOs about a potential new $350 million levy, but bankers are split over the proposal.
- John Kehoe and Lucas Baird
CBA’s Comyn boils over at Apple free-riding on banks
The CBA boss said the government should consider hitting tech companies with a bank-style levy to even the competitive playing field.
- James Eyers and Lucas Baird
CBA says borrowers are banking tax cuts to bolster mortgage buffer
Commonwealth Bank said its borrowers hoarded the benefits of the government’s stage three tax cuts to afford themselves breathing room on their mortgages.
- Updated
- Lucas Baird and James Eyers