Commonwealth Bank’s new boss says all seniors managers to blame for recent scandals

THE Commonwealth Bank executive promoted to the top job says he shares a “collective accountability” with other senior managers for reputational issues buffeting the scandal-prone lender.

THE Commonwealth Bank executive promoted to the top job says he shares a “collective accountability” with other senior managers for reputational issues buffeting the scandal-prone lender.

ASIC LAUNCHES RATE-RIGGING CASE AGAINST CBA

CBA’S CHOICE OF NEW CHIEF DOWN TO LIMITED OPTIONS

CBA HANDS CEO ROLE TO RETAIL BANKING BOSS MATT COMYN

CBA CHAIR CATHERINE LIVINGSTONE DEFENDS EXECUTIVE BONUSES

Matt Comyn — who, in a surprise appointment, was yesterday named as the successor to chief executive Ian Narev — said there were elements of the bank’s culture that “we think need to be improved”.

Mr Comyn, 42, has been with the CBA for almost 20 years, except for a stint of several months in 2010 when he left to run Morgan Stanley’s Australian wealth management business.

Currently head of the CBA’s retail banking business, he succeeds Mr Narev on April 9.

In his first full year at the top, he could receive pay and perks totalling $8.3 million — made up of a base pay of $2.2 million, possible short-term incentives to the same value and long-term incentives of $3.96 million.

That tally, equating to more than $22,000 every day, would be about 100 times the average full-time Australian wage. Asked about damage to the bank’s reputation in recent years, Mr Comyn said it had been a “challenging” period.

“As a senior executive who has been here for nearly two decades and the last five-and-a-half years has been part of the executive committee, I certainly feel it is entirely appropriate to share a collective accountability for the issues that we have had,” he said.

“It was challenging insofar as the deep fondness I have for the organisation (meant it was difficult) to see it portrayed like that. There is a lot of work under way, and there is a lot of work to do.”

He takes charge at a difficult time for the CBA and the broader banking industry ahead of the commencement next month of the royal commission into misconduct within the financial services sector.

The CBA has been at the centre of a series of scandals in recent years.

Among them, Australia’s anti-money-laundering watchdog — the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre — sued the bank in August, saying it failed to report more than 50,000 suspicious transactions carried out through its ATM network.

Mr Narev resigned as that scandal emerged, although the bank has said his resignation was not tied to the case.

Ian Narev, Catherine Livingston and Matt Comyn at Monday’s announcement. Picture Britta Campion

After Austrac launched the legal action, the banking regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, announced it was establishing an independent inquiry into governance and culture at the bank.

Mr Comyn was widely regarded as a rising star and protege of Mr Narev’s. But some analysts had speculated that leading the group’s retail banking operations — which account for more than half of group profit — during a scandal-plagued period would affect his chances of becoming group chief.

Consumer lawyer John Berrill questioned the wisdom of the appointment. Mr Berrill, a director at superannuation and insurance-focused law firm Berrill and Watson, has advocated for victims caught up in the bank’s financial planning scandal.

“Given the size and the number of scandals the CBA has been involved in, we would have thought it important to make a fresh start and get a fresh pair of eyes looking over governance and how CBA operates,” he said.

CBA chair Catherine Livingstone yesterday defended aspects of the bank’s culture against calls by some analysts and investors for sweeping change.

“Culture is made up of quite a number of elements. And if you look at the Commonwealth Bank there are very strong aspects of culture which we would seek for Matt to encourage and nurture,” she said yesterday.

[e-mail]