The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has reported its financial results for the first half of the year, recording AU$4.9billion in statutory net profit after tax.
The result is a 20.8% drop year-on-year compared to last year, when the bank reported AU$6 billion in after-tax profit, thanks in part to the one-off gain related to the sale of its CFS Global Asset Management business.
Overall, operating income was reported as AU$11.9 billion, down 0.5%, and operating expenses were AU$5.6 billion, up 2.3%.
For the six months to 31 December 2020, the bank’s business lending segment grew by AU$4 billion. CBA provided highlights in its results presentation as to how it was building Australia’s “leading business bank”, which included the “simplification of credit processes and technology”, being number one in payments processed via Australia’s not-so-new New Payments Network, and introducing live web messaging and real-time smart alerts.
Continuing with CEO Matt Comyn’s push for CBA to provide the “best digital experience in Australia, bar none“, the bank’s results highlighted a number of tech wins during the six-month period, including boasting 7.5 million digitally active customers.
“We’re continuing to see a very strong preference for customers to engage with us using our digital and the latest technology, and we want to make sure we’re continuing to invest and deliver the best digital experience in our customers’ lives,” Comyn said on Wednesday.
AU$856 million was invested into tech in the first half of the 2021 financial year.
CBA also touted a “continued migration to public cloud”.
During the reported period, the bank boasted a workforce comprising around 5,000 engineers, revealing plans to hire more.
After holding a press conference lasts month to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the launch of its venture arm, X15 Ventures, the bank’s results summarised the achievements, saying it was building a “pipeline of new digital businesses”.
