Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn to stay until 2028, AI to be part of his vision
Chair Paul O’Malley said Commonwealth Bank ‘made a mistake’ when it sacked 45 people in a customer service centre for a job a chatbot was incapable of doing properly.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn will stay on until at least 2028, enough time for him to realise his artificial intelligence-enabled vision for Australia’s largest bank.
Mr Comyn has axed 108 jobs in a matter of days, according to the Finance Sector Union, which pressed the board on Wednesday to defend its AI drive after fumbling 45 redundancies inside its call centre. The bank reinstated those employees when it became apparent the bots were incapable of doing the job.
Chairman Paul O’Malley revealed his successor would play a key role in deciding who will replace Mr Comyn who has been in the role since 2018.
Mr O’Malley told shareholders at The Brisbane Cricket Ground he would not seek another term when his present three years expired. That would make Mr Comyn one of the longest serving bosses in CBA’s publicly traded history at potentially 11 years – or longer.
Mr Comyn would only be matched by David Murray who ran the bank from 1992 to 2005.
He has presided over a significant shift at CBA as the banking sector’s most energised adopter of AI.
The Finance Sector Union, which represents staff at CBA, said it was unclear whether the 108 cuts were unseated by AI or the offshoring of roles. The FSU said CBA should detail its AI and offshoring plans.
Mr O’Malley told investors CBA was looking to hire because the bank had to “have the right skills” and Mr Comyn volunteered that CBA was partnering with local universities to recruit graduates to fight financial crime.
But hiring locally was constrained by the Australian labour market dynamics. “They are some of the biggest drivers around our operation in India,” Mr Comyn said.
Mr Comyn also conceded the bank could be doing more around dealing with nerves surrounding CBA’s AI rollout. “We think that there is more that we can be doing in that area, because we can see the uncertainty,” Mr Comyn said.
“We are not entirely sure how the market is going to evolve over the next three to five years.”
In response to a question from FSU member and former CBA staffer, Kathryn Sullivan, who lost her job to the bank’s introduction of its AI chatbot, Mr Comyn conceded CBA had mishandled the matter.
He noted CBA will still “require difficult decisions that may have an impact on employees”, but could do better in engaging with staff.
Mr O’Malley agreed CBA “made a mistake”.
The FSU said it was inarguable that CBA was increasing the number of offshore staff while its Australian numbers were whittled away.
FSU campaign manager Paul Blackmore questioned Mr Comyn and Mr O’Malley over the latest cuts as the banking industry slashes thousands of jobs, including 3500 staff and 1000 contractors at ANZ.
Mr Blackmore said CBA staff numbers in India were up 138 per cent since 2022 to over 6,800 while its Australian headcount was down 3 per cent to around 37,000.
CBA cut 283 jobs in June and rehired many similar positions in India.
Its annual profit was $10.1bn in fiscal 2025.
Shareholders questioned the board over the future of branches, as well as the provision of cash.
Mr O’Malley said notes and coins remained critical for the bank and would be “around for a long time”.
Mr Comyn said CBA was seeking to “strike the right balance” in retaining branches while also responding to the highly competitive pressures in the banking sector.
Shareholders approved a $1.7m share grant to Mr Comyn, who was handed 10,616 shares.
Mr O’Malley said the award was aimed at supporting a “focus on sustainable long term value creation”.
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