CBA adds $1.5b to COVID bill, sells stake in wealth manager

The Commonwealth Bank will set aside $1.5 billion to deal with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

May 13, 2020, updated May 21, 2025
CBA chief executive Matt Comyn and chair Catherine Livingstone.
CBA chief executive Matt Comyn and chair Catherine Livingstone.

The bank also announced the $1.7 billion sale of a 55 per cent stake in Colonial First State to KKR, a global investment firm with $US207 billion of assets under management.

The transaction implies a total valuation for CFS of $3.3 billion.

The CBA also reported that its unaudited statutory net profit of $1.3billionĀ  for the quarter.

The bank said the quarter had shown flat operating income, with strong operational execution driving core volume growth, offset by the impacts of a lower cash rate.

CBA chief executive Matt Comyn said the announcement of provisioning for the potential longer-term impacts of COVID-19 ā€œfurther reinforced our already strong provisioning and balance sheet settingsā€.

ā€œGiven the significant impact to the economy from the coronavirus, we have increased provisions for future loan losses by $1.5 billion, bringing our total provisions for future losses to $6.4 billion.

Like Suncorp, it has predicted home prices would fall by 11 per cent over three years, but if there was a ā€œprolonged downturnā€ house prices could fall by more than 30 per cent.

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ā€œThe bank is well funded, with significant levels of excess liquidity and strong capital.

ā€œThe strength of the bank means we are well placed to support our customers and the broader Australian economy.

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ā€œSince the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our package of support measures has included over $9 billion in support to 100,000 businesses, repayment deferrals on approximately 240,000 loans, reduced interest rates for borrowers, increased interest rates for depositors and waived fees and charges.

ā€œOur strong capital position enabled us to deliver first-half 2020 dividend payments totalling $3.5 billion to our 830,000 shareholders during March, providing a further direct cash benefit into the economy.ā€

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