CBAUF - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBAUF) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

2024-02-14 18:16:11 ET

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBAUF)

Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

February 13, 2024 6:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Melanie Kirk - Head of Investor Relations

Matthew Comyn - CEO, MD & Executive Director

Alan Docherty - Group Executive of Financial Services & CFO

Conference Call Participants

Andrew Triggs - JPMorgan

Jonathan Mott - Barrenjoey Markets

Richard Wiles - Morgan Stanley

Carlos Cacho - Jarden

Victor German - Macquarie Research

Andrew Lyons - Goldman Sachs

Brendan Sproules - Citigroup Inc

Ed Henning - CLSA Limited

Presentation

Melanie Kirk

Hello, and welcome to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's results briefing for the half year ended 31 December 2023. I'm Melanie Kirk, and I'm Head of Investor Relations. Thank you for joining us for this briefing. We will be having presentations from our CEO, Matt Comyn, with an update on the business and an overview of the results. Our CFO, Alan Docherty will provide the details of the results, and Matt will then provide an outlook and summary. The presentations will be followed by the opportunity for analysts and investors to ask some questions.

I'll now hand over to Matt. Thank you, Matt.

Matthew Comyn

Well, thanks very much, Mel, and good morning, everyone. It's good to be with you today to present the bank's half year results. Throughout the half, we've continued to focus on supporting our customers and communities, investing for the future, and providing strength and stability for the broader economy. We know that many Australians are feeling under pressure and are finding it harder and harder to deal with the current cost of living.

So let me say directly to those customers who are facing hardship or are feeling stretched, we are here to support you. This includes home loan repayment pauses for up to 12 months, loan deferrals, interest-only loans and flexible payment plans. Each month, our digital tools also help 3 million customers save on everyday expenses, better manage their money and plan for the future. This half, we've helped more than 60,000 Australians buy a new home and prevented and recovered more than $100 million in scams.

Safety and security remains a priority for all Australians, and we are investing more than $750 million each year to protect customers from fraud, scams, financial and cyber crimes. We also recognize how important small businesses are to our economy, and this half we've lent $18 billion to help them create jobs and grow. And all Australians benefit from strong and stable banks. We've further strengthened our balance sheet to ensure we remain well positioned to support our customers, communities and the economy, both today and into the future.

We continue to have the largest ATM and branch network in the country, and all of our call centers are based in Australia. We've also made a commitment to keep every one of our CommBank regional branches open for at least 3 years. We also recognize that many Australians rely on us for dividends to support their income. And this half, we delivered $4 billion in dividends to over 12 million Australians.

Well, last week's Statement of Monetary Policy showed that households have decreased consumption in real terms as well as reduced their savings. Our own data shows that those impacts continue to be felt unevenly across our customers and the economy. Fortunately, unemployment remains near record lows. We realize that many people are needing to take on second jobs or work additional hours to supplement their incomes.

Overall spending per capita has only risen by about 1% as people cut back on both essential and discretionary spend in real terms. We can see customers using savings buffers to cope with higher prices and mortgage rates. And we recognize our younger customers have been impacted most heavily. Overall, household disposable income in Australia fell by approximately 3.5% last financial year. Pre-tax salaries increased disposable incomes by 8%, but rising prices offset most of these gains.

Net interest payable also decreased disposable income by 2%. This is because Australian households hold $1.2 trillion more loans than deposits. We are here to support our customers who need it. We offer more options today than ever before and we've made them easier to access. We've contacted every customer coming off a fixed rate mortgage and discussed options with those looking for help and 99% of these customers are continuing to make their repayments on time....

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