Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has expanded its range of support measures for business customers impacted by coronavirus, announcing additional loan repayment deferrals, automatic merchant fee waivers, and tailored assistance for larger businesses.

By expanding its suite of support, CBA will provide repayment relief of up to $3.6 billion for its business customers, delivering around $600 million back into business cash flows each month. More than 99 per cent of CBA’s business customers are now eligible for loan repayment deferrals.

Approximately $1 billion of the relief will benefit CBA’s commercial property customers.

The new support measures include:

  • Expanding the offer of six month loan repayment deferrals to businesses with lending limits of up to $10 million (it was previously for businesses with lending limits up to $5 million).
  • Automatically waiving merchant fees for three months for 70,000 small business customers.
  • Tailored, specialised support for larger business customers impacted by coronavirus.

CBA Chief Executive Officer, Matt Comyn, said: “The economic, physical and personal impact of the coronavirus will be severe. We are dealing with a health crisis which is precipitating a significant economic shock, and the most vulnerable in our community are especially in need of our collective support.

“Over the last fortnight we announced a number of measures to support our small business and retail customers through this very challenging period. It has become apparent over the last week that medium-sized and larger businesses will also need significant support.

“We welcome the supplementary business relief package from the Australian Banking Association and the additional benefits it brings for our customers.

“By extending our support, we’ll help more businesses stay afloat, and that means more people will keep their jobs.”

Mr Comyn said the extension of loan repayment deferrals to businesses with more borrowings meant that around 90 per cent of CBA’s commercial property owners were now eligible.

“By deferring their loan repayments, we can provide support of up to $165 million in cash flow each month for our commercial property customers,” Mr Comyn said.

Mr Comyn added that CBA customers with lending limits beyond $10 million would be provided with support on a tailored and specialised basis whenever they needed it.

As previously announced, CBA business customers with borrowing limits of up to $5 million will automatically have their loan repayments deferred for April, May and June, with the option to extend this for July, August and September. All of these customers are in the process of being contacted by the Bank, and can opt out of the repayment deferral if they choose to.

Customers with borrowing limits between $5 million and $10 million can opt-in to have their loan repayments deferred for up to six months.

All customers who are set to have their merchant fees automatically waived will be contacted by CBA shortly. Other merchant customers requiring financial assistance during this time will also be able to waive their terminal rental fees for 90 days by contacting their Relationship Manager or our Merchant Support Team on 1800 230 177.

Measures announced today, which are subject to ACCC authorisation, are in addition to those announced by the Commonwealth Bank over the past two weeks. For a full outline of the support available for CBA customers impacted by coronavirus, visit commbank.com.au/coronavirus