CBA defends handing Yes campaign $2m in Indigenous voice to parliament intervention

Shareholders have criticised Commonwealth Bank over the bank‘s decision to give the Yes campaign $2m.

CBA Chair Paul O’Malley and CEO Matt Comyn, at Commonwealth Bank headquarters in Sydney. Picture: Britta Campion

Commonwealth Bank has been lashed by investors over the banks support for the Indigenous voice to parliament, after handing the Yes case a $2m donation.

At the bank’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, CBA’s board was repeatedly berated by investors over their stance on the issue.

CBA chair Paul O’Malley said the bank chose to fund the campaign as it viewed the Yes campaign was in the interests of shareholders. However, he said CBA noted “not everyone is supportive of that”.

Mr O’Malley, who heads up the board of Australia’s biggest lender, said the bank’s “own experience” supported the voice.

“Listening to Indigenous voices has improved the way we support First Nations customers, employees and community members,” he said. “We state clearly in our Reconciliation Action Plan that we will support more First Nations’ voices informing First Nations’ solutions.”

Mr O’Malley said CBA’s long-term support of reconciliation further supported the bank’s stance.

“We know that changes to the Constitution are not made lightly, and we acknowledge that many of our staff, customers and shareholders might believe that there are different ways to support Indigenous Australians,” he said.

“We are very respectful of these different views.”

Mr O’Malley said CBA had ­extensively canvassed the Voice proposal within the board before deciding to support the constitutional amendment.

“It’s important that we as a board do what we think is in the best interest of the bank to support our customers, our employees and shareholders,” he said.

However, shareholders demanded to know why CBA used investor funds, with one attendee demanding the bank’s board repay the donation from their own personal funds.

Shareholders also questioned why the bank was willing to spend millions on the voice campaign and not on improving customer service experience.

However, Mr O’Malley said CBA supported Indigenous Australians to “make the right decisions for their First Nations solutions”. “We think that Indigenous people, having a voice is better for everyone,’ he said.

The heated debate over the voice funding came as CBA was forced to defend its bumper $10.2bn full-year profit revealed at the bank’s recent results.

The bank said its move to pay investors almost $10bn through dividends and share buybacks was a reflection of the strength and success of the CBA business.

CBA has prospered as interest rates climbed from their pandemic lows in April 2022. Rates have now lifted 12 times from 0.1 per cent to 4.1 per cent.

CBA has benefited from passing on higher borrowing costs to its borrowers while holding back higher savings rates.

However, CBA’s move to reduce all lending to companies involved in oil and gas extraction by 2025 did not face shareholder ire.

CBA has warned, subject to “having a secure energy platform” it will cease providing financing to oil and gas companies and will require certain corporate clients to publish transition plans from 2025 addressing greenhouse gas emissions.