Commonwealth Bank overview

• Profile
• Structure
• Facts and figures

Profile

The Commonwealth Bank is Australia’s leading provider of integrated financial services including retail banking, premium banking, business banking, institutional banking, funds management, superannuation, insurance, investment and sharebroking products and services. The Group is one of the largest listed companies on the Australian Securities Exchange and is included in the Morgan Stanley Capital Global Index.

The key financial objective of the Group is to have Total Shareholder Return in the top quartile of our Australian listed peers over each rolling five-year period. Total Shareholder Return is calculated as the growth in the value of the investment in the Group’s shares, assuming all dividends are reinvested in shares at the point dividends are paid.

The strategic strengths of the Commonwealth Bank are its:

• brand
• scale
• diversified business mix
  

The Commonwealth Bank brand is the most recognised brand in the Australian financial services industry. Other award-winning brands within the Group include our wealth management business Colonial First State, our online broking service CommSec and Bankwest.

In terms of scale, the Group has a strong domestic presence with the largest customer base of any Australian bank and operates the largest financial services distribution network in the country with the most points of access.

Banking

The Commonwealth Bank Group provides a full range of retail banking services including home loans, credit cards, personal loans, transaction accounts, and demand and term deposits through its Commonwealth Bank and Bankwest brands. The Group has leading domestic market shares in home loans, personal loans, retail deposits and discount stockbroking, and is one of Australia's largest credit card issuers. The Group also offers a full range of commercial products including business loans, equipment and trade finance, and rural and agribusiness products.

The Group serves corporations, government entities and other major institutions operating in Australasia. Corporate customers have access to financial markets services, securities underwriting, trading and distribution, corporate finance, equities, payments and transaction services, investment management and custody services.

Funds under management

As a full financial services provider, the Group also offers investment products and superannuation. Customers can choose between investing directly in the range of investment funds offered by the Group, or obtain wider investment choice through the Group’s master trust product, FirstChoice, the largest retail platform in Australia. The Commonwealth Bank Group is one of the country's largest manager of Australian funds, and one of the largest retail funds managers in terms of total value of funds under management.

The asset management business manages investment portfolios for a diverse range of retail and wholesale clients. It provides a large range of active and indexed investment options. These options include Australian and international shares, listed property, fixed interest, credit, infrastructure, private equity and cash.

Superannuation and insurance

The Group provides a range of life insurance, superannuation, retirement income and general insurance products. The Group is one of Australia's largest life insurers and is also one of the largest managers in retail superannuation, allocated pensions and annuities by funds under management. Life insurance operations are also conducted in New Zealand, where the Group has the leading market share, and throughout Asia and the Pacific.

International

The Commonwealth Bank Group has a growing international presence through:

• Retail banks in New Zealand (ASB) and Indonesia (Commonwealth Bank Indonesia)
• Banking investments in China (20 per cent in both Qilu Bank and Bank of Hangzhou) and Vietnam, (20 per cent stake in Vietnam International Bank)
• Life insurance operations in New Zealand (Sovereign), Indonesia (Commonwealth Life) and a joint venture in China (BoCommLife)
• Banking branches in London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Auckland, Ho Chi Minh City and Mumbai
• Representative offices in Beijing and Hanoi

Networks and alliances

The extensive reach of the Group’s distribution network is achieved through the combination of the Group’s branch network and a nationwide agency arrangement with Australia Post.

The Group also offers convenient 24-hour access to banking services via telephone banking and Australia's most extensive EFTPOS and ATM networks.

The Commonwealth Bank Group is a leader in online financial services in Australia with facilities that include NetBank, the Group’s internet banking site and CommSec, the country’s most popular online broker.

The Group also has a wide agency and independent financial advisory distribution capability with trained and licensed investment advisers located throughout the branch network and aligned advisory services.

Community support

The Commonwealth Bank is a long-standing supporter of community activities and organisations. This support is directed at a broad range of activities that bring long term benefits to Australians and reflect community activities and organisations. Areas of particular emphasis include education, medical, youth, science and technology, the arts and the environment.

In the area of education, we aim to develop financial literacy, especially for youth, as well as online learning. We look to support educational programs which provide professional and credible learning activities.

The Commonwealth Bank Foundation encourages developments in education, including the development of financial literacy skills for young Australians.

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Structure

The Commonwealth Bank has five customer-facing business divisions, designed to align product development and service delivery more fully with customer segments. The businesses are:

Retail Banking Services

Retail Banking Services' role is to deliver customised service, focusing on meeting the financial needs of personal and small business customers seeking simple, convenient and affordable banking. It also oversees the Group’s marketing functions and online strategy and development.

Business and Private Banking

Business and Private Banking manages relationships with Commonwealth Bank’s small-medium enterprise customers and its regional and agribusiness customers, providing a wide range of services and solutions. It also services our personal and institutional online trading customers, and provides service, advice and opportunities to our premium personal customers through Commonwealth Private.

Institutional Banking and Markets

Institutional Banking and Markets provides equity, debt and banking services, including payment systems, to the Group’s Institutional clients. Its Total Capital Solutions approach delivers industry expertise and specialist skills that meet clients’ needs and span the capital spectrum.

Wealth Management

Wealth Management brings together the Commonwealth Bank's funds management manufacturing and distribution capability as well as its domestic insurance and financial advice business support divisions. These divisions include the well-known brands of Colonial First State Global Asset Management, Colonial First State and CommInsure.

International Financial Services

International Financial Services Asia (IFS Asia) incorporates the Asian retail and SME banking operations (Indonesia, China, Vietnam and India), investments in Chinese and Vietnamese retail banks, the joint venture Chinese life insurance business and the life insurance operations in Indonesia. It does not include the Business and Private Banking, Institutional Banking and Markets and Colonial First State Global Asset Management businesses in Asia.

In addition, the Commonwealth Bank has five support divisions. These include:

Financial Services

Financial Services partners with all areas of the Commonwealth Bank Group to provide specialist advice regarding the organisation’s financial management and strategy. This advice covers finance, audit, treasury, investor relations, security, general procurement and property.

Risk Management

Risk Management is responsible for developing appropriate strategies and risk frameworks to allow the Group to take conscious exposures to credit, market, operational, compliance and insurance risks within a Board-approved appetite. They do this by identifying, assessing and reporting risks; assessing the impact of proposed changes in laws, regulations and industry codes to achieve the optimal risk and return outcomes for the Commonwealth Bank Group.

Enterprise Services

Enterprise Services provides technology and banking operations services across the Commonwealth Bank Group. The technology teams provide innovative product platforms for customers as well as essential tools for our business. The operations teams leverage technology to drive efficient and timely processing which is an essential component of the customer value proposition. Core Banking Modernisation, which will modernise the Group’s existing banking legacy systems with a customer centric platform, is just one of several key strategic programs within Enterprise Services.

Human Resources

Human Resources supports each business unit through recruitment, employee relations, HR administration, remuneration benefits, occupational health and safety, project work and leadership development training.

Group Corporate Affairs

Group Corporate Affairs is responsible for delivering an integrated and consistent approach to the Group’s external and internal affairs, legal matters, communications, sustainability and corporate governance. Group Corporate Affairs is comprised of Communications, Community & Corporate Sustainability, Government & Industry Affairs, Legal Services and Secretariat.

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Facts and figures

Strategic vision

To excel at securing and enhancing the financial wellbeing of people, businesses and communities

Financial information

• Our shareholder base totals approximately 800,000.
• More than 75 per cent of our staff in Australia are shareholders.
• Net profit after tax on statutory basis increased 1 per cent to $3,661 million and on cash basis, up 6 per cent to $3,780 million (as at 31 December 2012).
• Fully franked interim dividend of $1.64 per share, an increase of 20 per cent on the 2012 interim dividend.  The dividend payout ratio (cash basis) of approximately 70 per cent is up from 61 per cent for the prior year's interim dividend. This increase is consistent with the Board's revised dividend policy, announced in August 2012, which increased the payout ratio for the interim dividend.  Accordingly, the final dividend for the 2013 year is likely to be slightly lower than the final dividend for the 2012 year.
  
• The Group has $721,339 million in assets (as at 31 December 2012).

Refer to the Profit Announcement for the most current financial statements and statistics for the Commonwealth Bank. 

Distribution network

• The Commonwealth Bank operates the largest financial services distribution network in the country with the most points of customer access.
• Over 1,100 branches nationally.
• Over 3,700 Australia Post agencies.
• Over 4,200 ATMs nationally.
• The Commonwealth Bank supports more than 274,000 EFTPOS terminals throughout Australia.

Services

• We are the first Australian bank to go real-time, 24x7 and one of the first in the world.
• We offer personal banking services at over 3,700 Australia Post agencies and transactional banking services for business clients at close to 500 Australia Post agencies across the country.
• Our cardholders can use their cards at more than 25 million locations around the world, including over one million ATMs.
• More than 4.3 million active online customers.
  
• Over 7,400 mortgage brokers.

Scale

• We have established businesses in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
• We have Australia’s largest banking customer base.
• We are one of Australia's leading home loan providers with over a million home loan customers.
• Our brands include Colonial First State, CommInsure, ASB (New Zealand), Sovereign, FirstChoice, CommSec, and Bankwest.
• We are one of the largest life insurers in Australia, with over $2,000 million in-force annual premiums (as at 31 December 2012).
• Commonwealth Bank/Colonial First State’s retail platform, FirstChoice has the largest market share of the $529 billion retail managed funds market according to Plan for Life’s September Quarter 2012 report.

Our people

• We have 51,000 people working at Commonwealth Bank Group.
• Close to 60 per cent of our staff are women.
• Chief Executive Officer is Ian Narev.
• Chairman is David Turner.
• We offer a range of flexible work options to support our people including career breaks, parental leave, carer’s leave and study leave.

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