When Matt Comyn took over as chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia on 9 April 2018, the bank was under intense regulatory and public scrutiny. More than eight years later, he runs Australia’s largest and most profitable bank, and its 2026 result showed it gaining ground across all of its main domestic businesses at once.

A CBA career

Comyn has spent most of his career at the bank. According to CBA, he joined in 2000 and has held senior roles across business, institutional, retail and wealth banking. Between 2006 and 2010 he ran CommSec, the bank’s online broking business, overseeing a major modernisation of its technology platform. From 2012 he led Retail Banking Services, the bank’s largest division, which also drove its digital products.

He became chief executive as CBA was dealing with the fallout from AUSTRAC’s anti-money laundering case, which the bank settled in 2018 with a $700 million penalty, and with the banking royal commission. Rebuilding trust with regulators and customers was the first task of his tenure.

The 2026 result

CBA’s result for the year to 30 June 2026, released on 12 August, showed:

  • cash net profit after tax of $10.98 billion, up 7%
  • return on equity of 14%, up 50 basis points
  • a final dividend of $2.70 a share, taking the full-year dividend to $5.05, fully franked
  • a common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 12.0%, well above APRA’s 10.25% minimum.

The bank highlighted one achievement in particular. It grew at or above the market in each of its five core domestic product categories: home lending, business lending, consumer finance, household deposits and business deposits. CBA said this was the first time it had done so, and the first time any major Australian bank had in the past 15 years.

Technology, scams and AI

Comyn has made technology investment a defining feature of his tenure. CBA spent $2.4 billion on investment in FY26 and expects to maintain that level in FY27. The bank said it invested more than $1 billion during the year to protect customers from fraud, scams, cyber threats and financial crime, including AI-powered cyber defence tools and alerts warning customers before they pay a new payee. It also announced an AI, cyber security and digital skills initiative with OpenAI aimed at one million small businesses.

That focus puts CBA in a strong position as the Scams Prevention Framework, which will make banks legally responsible for taking reasonable steps against scams, takes effect from 31 March 2027.

The outlook: slower growth, higher rates

Comyn’s outlook was cautious. “The Australian economy has remained resilient, supported by historically low unemployment and longer-term investment,” he said in August. “However growth is slowing, with higher interest rates and inflation placing uneven pressure on household incomes and economic activity.”

Credit quality is the number to watch. CBA’s loan impairment expense rose 9% to $788 million, and home loan and personal loan arrears rose to 0.73% and 1.72% respectively, as cost-of-living pressures weighed on some households. Since then, the Reserve Bank has raised the cash rate again, to 4.60% in September, adding to the strain on borrowers.

Comyn set out his priorities plainly: “to deepen primary customer relationships, maintain discipline in our volume and margin choices, improve productivity, and deliver measurable customer, risk and financial benefits from our investments.”

The verdict

For investors, CBA under Comyn has been a story of consistency and a premium valuation. For competitors, including the brokers and challenger lenders who compete with it for business and home loans, it remains the benchmark. And for the broader economy, the bank’s lending book is an early indicator of how households and businesses are coping as rates rise.