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We undertake an annual sustainability materiality assessment to identify and prioritise the sustainability topics most relevant to our business, stakeholders and broader operating environment. Since 2022, this process has helped us understand the topics that shape our ability to create long-term value and maintain trust with customers, communities, regulators and investors. Insights are shared with senior management and the Board and inform our disclosures. As expectations, regulatory requirements and market practices continue to evolve, we work to strengthen the robustness and relevance of our assessment approach to help ensure our sustainability reporting remains future-focused and aligned with leading global practices.
The materiality assessment considers sustainability-related topics and their associated impacts, risks and opportunities that could influence CBA’s ability to create value. Materiality is assessed using two lenses, impact materiality and financial materiality.
Impact materiality
The extent to which CBA’s activities impact our stakeholders, including customers, employees, communities, shareholders and the environment.
The extent to which risks or opportunities could significantly impact CBA's ability to create value over the short to medium term (1–5 years).
Guided by global frameworks and standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, our materiality assessment involves significant judgement and is a qualitative assessment. It considers a broad range of sustainability topics, informed by research, stakeholder engagement and workshops with senior management.
This year, we enhanced our materiality assessment process to better identify the impacts, risks and opportunities associated with sustainability topics relevant to CBA. Internal subject matter experts, representing key stakeholder groups, assessed proposed sustainability topics based on their direct engagement with stakeholders.
Under this approach, a topic is only identified as material where there is an underlying impact, risk or opportunity assessed as ‘very high’, using the Bank’s 5x5 risk matrix. Impacts are evaluated based on CBA’s external impact on key stakeholder groups, while risks and opportunities are assessed based on their potential impact on the Bank’s financial performance.
Our assessment will continue to evolve in line with emerging guidance to strengthen how we identify and respond to material sustainability-related impacts, risks and opportunities.
We engaged with our stakeholder representatives to identify and understand the sustainability-related topics that matter most to their stakeholder groups.
For more details on the how we engage with our stakeholders, please refer to our stakeholder engagement approach document.
Below captures our 2026 material themes and the related topics. Related topics have been allocated to themes based on subjective judgement of their closest fit, recognising that topics are cross-cutting and closely interlinked.
While the core themes remain broadly consistent to the prior year, targeted refinements reflect stakeholder feedback and shifts in the relative ranking of sustainability issues. Compared to last year, there is increased focus on artificial intelligence and operational resilience. Operational resilience, in particular, was identified as critical to maintaining trust and business continuity, and is closely linked to areas such as cyber security, digitisation, data and privacy, and financial crime.
Our five material themes are considered material from both an impact and financial perspective, as they include underlying topics assessed as material based on their ability to impact stakeholders and CBA.
Material topic (+): Topic considered material where an underlying impact, risk or opportunity has been assessed as 'very high', using the Bank's 5x5 risk matrix.
Related topic (-): Topic where an underlying impact, risk or opportunity has been assessed as less than 'very high' using the Bank's 5x5 risk matrix and therefore is not considered material.
Impact materiality
As a bank for all Australians, we have an important role in promoting financial inclusion and helping to remove barriers to participation in the financial system.
Financial materiality
Building enduring customer relationships requires ongoing investment in customer experience and responding to community needs. This supports trust, strengthens our brand and contributes to long-term value creation.
Material and related topics
- Access to banking
- Community engagement
+ Community financial wellbeing
+ Customer experience and support
+ Customer health and safety
+ Financial abuse
+ Financial inclusion
- Housing access and affordability
+ Vulnerable communities
+ Vulnerable customers
Impact materiality
The way we attract, support and develop our people directly influences employee wellbeing, inclusion and engagement. A positive workplace culture helps create an environment where employees can contribute, grow and thrive.
Financial materiality
Ongoing investment in our people, workforce capability and engagement is critical to delivering strong customer outcomes, maintaining effective risk management and supporting productivity and financial performance.
Material and related topics
- Diversity, equity and inclusion
+ Employee development
- Employee wellbeing and mental health
- Equal pay for equal work
- Flexibility and work-life balance
- Gender equality
- Industrial relations and labour rights
- Occupational health and safety
+ Workforce transformation
Impact materiality
Secure, reliable and resilient banking services are critical to customers, communities and the financial system. Cyber incidents, data breaches, scams, fraud, financial crime and operational disruptions can compromise privacy, disrupt access to essential services, erode trust and disproportionately affect customers in vulnerable circumstances.
Financial materiality
Failure to prevent, detect, respond to or recover from cyber threats, data breaches, scams, fraud, financial crime and operational disruptions can result in service outages, regulatory action, increased remediation and compliance costs, and reputational and financial harm to CBA.
Material and related topics
+ Cyber security
+ Data governance
+ Financial crime
+ Fraud and scams
+ Operational resilience
Impact materiality
As digital technologies and AI transform banking, stakeholders expect us to manage impacts on customers, communities and our workforce. Failure to address risks such as bias, privacy, accessibility and workforce disruption may exacerbate inequalities and reduce equitable access to banking services.
Financial materiality
Effective use of digital technologies and AI can improve customer experiences, increase operational efficiency and support financial performance. Realising these benefits depends on strong governance and responsible implementation.
Material and related topics
+ Artificial intelligence
+ Digitisation
This year’s assessment reviewed a range of sustainability topics, which were rated and prioritised using the Bank’s 5x5 risk matrix and exercised significant judgement by relevant internal subject matter experts. The prioritised topics were then grouped into overarching themes. Theme selection involved significant judgement, guided by the results of our materiality assessment. Sustainability-related information includes non-financial information and refers to environmental, social and governance topics and themes that are important to our stakeholders and to CBA, as they have the potential to impact stakeholders and CBA’s financial prospects.
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