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Today

Guy Debelle has been co-chair of the ASFI Taxonomy Technical Body for the past 20 months.

Miners set for green investment boost from new classification system

New guidelines developed with Treasury will help banks and super funds reduce greenwashing by classifying economic activity based on its emissions profile.

This Month

Paul Keating says he set CBA on the path to its success.

Keating: ‘CBA was flying on one wing when I became Treasurer’

The Commonwealth Bank’s record-breaking share price surge compelled Paul Keating to summon the Financial Review to his Sydney office for a history lesson.

Nick Molnar, co-founder of Afterpay, says regulation will legitimise BNPL allowing it to compete with everyday spending using credit cards.

Why Afterpay could be coming to a supermarket checkout near you

Eight years after the first calls to bring BNPL under credit laws, Nick Molnar says the new regime will help it compete more aggressively with credit cards.

Some investors say CBA’s operational consistency and dominant position in both retail and business banking justify the valuation.

Texan investment giant’s $1b buy order pumps up CBA’s share price

A bulky order for the bank’s stock over the past fortnight has helped the country’s biggest lender pass $300 billion market capitalisation.

Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh.

ABA whittles down search for new CEO

The departure of Anna Bligh opens the door, potentially, for another former politician.

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Commonwealth Bank’s head office in Sydney. The bank is by far the largest on the ASX.

Investors cash in as CBA soars past $300b but distortion fears grow

The bank’s relentless share price rise has seen its value soar well above the second-largest stock, BHP, despite brokers broadly considering it overpriced.

Suncorp CIO Adam Bennett, right, at the AI Summit on Tuesday.

From mortgages to mining copper, here’s how big companies are using AI

Flood and cyclone victims are just some of the people the country’s biggest businesses are helping with the use of artificial intelligence.

May

ANZ CEO Nuno Matos visiting a branch in Bourke Street, Melbourne, earlier this month.

ANZ CEO Nuno Matos on his plans for a cultural overhaul at the bank

Staff who don’t understand the fundamental importance of risk controls should find another industry to work in, he says.

‘I was very confident’: Meet Nuno Matos, ANZ’s Mr Fix It

After getting the US Justice Department off HSBC’s back, the Lisbon-born banker wants to take the smallest of Australia’s big four banks to “a different level”.

Australia is one of the largest producers of gas, and Westpac lends to both of the ASX-listed giants, Woodside Energy and Santos.

Westpac shifts climate targets and eases path for more lending to gas

The bank, which lends to Woodside Energy, will change lending rules even as it demands better energy transition plan disclosures from borrowers.

MotorOne’s main game is selling automotive aftercare products like window tints and car interior protective coatings.

Ares is designated driver at Quadrant’s MotorOne as $350m refi lands

Street Talk understands the Sydney buyout fund wants to trade its bank debt for a $350 million-plus unitranche loan.

ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos has made his first executive hire weeks after starting in the job.

New ANZ chief makes first executive hire amid bank poaching frenzy

Nuno Matos has hired a new group executive from Santander’s senior management ranks amid “one of the busiest times for bank CEO and CFO transitions”.

An independent pricing expert will oversee Armaguard’s contracts with banks and supermarkets.

Armaguard, banks pick Deloitte to create utility pricing for cash

The biggest users of cash want contracts with the Lindsay Fox company to be regulated like other essential services such as water and energy.

Gerard Florian group executive of technology at ANZ

ANZ tech boss touts AI agents to lift bankers’ productivity

ANZ is working with Salesforce to roll out AI agents that can help bankers prepare for client meetings, says the bank’s technology chief Gerard Florian

Anthony Miller is working to overhaul the bank and simplify its processes to cut costs.

Westpac readies the axe for its biggest redundancy round in years

New chief executive Anthony Miller has set big internal cost-cutting targets, with more than 1500 jobs on the line.

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Westpac will continue to cut jobs as its new CEO streamlines operations.

Westpac has already cut jobs in these key divisions

A former Westpac staff member reveals where redundancies have already been made, while the union says it is “greatly concerned” about extra cuts.

All the major banks passed through the RBA rate cut in full on Tuesday afternoon.

Big four banks pass on RBA cut in full

But ANZ, NAB and CBA said customers would need to contact them to actually reduce their direct-debit repayments.

Whitehaven argued that the Daunia, pictured, and Blackwater workers will be employed on terms “no less favourable” than under BHP’s ownership.

AustralianSuper invests in Whitehaven Coal, says it is ESG consistent

The big investor says it was drawn to the miner’s shift to metallurgical coal and remains committed to net zero by 2050 after buying shares last week.

Australia’s big banks exemplify the concentration of ownership by big investors such as super funds and index funds.

Imagine a cheaper mortgage if you went straight to the bank, not a broker

Banks pay broker 65 basis points upfront commission, which on a $1 million mortgage is $6500. What if banks cut out the broker and shared savings with the borrower?

Commonwealth Bank said it would lift the maximum bonus it can pay its home loan bankers from 50 per cent of base pay to 80 per cent.

CBA chief Comyn eyes bigger slice of business lending

Commonwealth Bank’s business loans jumped 9.1 per cent for the March quarter, or 1.3 times the average of the banking system.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/big-four-banks-5ux