CBA flags ‘very challenging’ conditions for households as high rates bite

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has underlined the growing toll cost-of-living pressures have taken on borrowers, citing 132,000 support packages offered to customers in the last year amid “very challenging” conditions for households.

At CBA’s annual shareholder meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday, the country’s biggest bank pointed to the uptick in customer hardship across the banking industry, with Australians squeezed by high interest rates and inflation.

CBA chairman Paul O’Malley (left) and CEO Matt Comyn on stage at the shareholder meeting.Credit: Ben Searcy

When asked if CBA would slightly lower home interest rates to assist with the recovery of the economy, chair Paul O’Malley said: “The bank is doing a lot more today than say, it did 10 or 20 years ago, in supporting customers through hardship.

“We’re seeing customers reaching out and asking for help. We think the best way to support customers is through a conversation … to help them get through what might be some short or longer-term difficult times.”

CBA’s latest results in August said it had offered the 132,000 support packages through loan deferrals and repayment pauses.

Banks have reported rising mortgage arrears this year, following the Reserve Bank’s raising of the cash rate from 0.1 per cent to 4.35 per cent since May 2022.

O’Malley highlighted the lessons from the pandemic, when banks threw many struggling households a lifeline by pausing repayments.

“I think we learned a lot working collaboratively with customers, regulators and governments during COVID when so many people could not work, could not service their home loans,” he said.

“We provided moratoriums, the regulators and governments supported that activity, and we all got to the other side, with people staying in their homes during periods of difficulty.”

Chief executive Matt Comyn said the economy was still absorbing shocks from recent years and many households and businesses were making sacrifices to deal with the high cost of living.

“While inflation is falling, it has proven persistent, and households are continuing to find it very challenging,” Comyn said.

“However, the domestic economy remains fundamentally sound with several structural advantages that provide optimism for the future.”

All the resolutions in the meeting passed seamlessly. Concerns raised by shareholders included the adoption of artificial intelligence, scam deterrence and security of offshore data.

CBA is slowly introducing AI into its practices. O’Malley said the bank was focused on ethical AI delivery, operating the technology with renewable energy.

“The use of AI needs to be fair, it needs to be transparent, it needs to respect the privacy and security of our customers and employees. It needs to be reliable and safe and accountable,” he said.

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