Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Paul O'Malley, and I am the Chair of the bank's board. On behalf of my fellow directors, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2022 annual general meeting of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. I also welcome the shareholders and others viewing by the live webcast. I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respects, our respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons here today and on the webcast. Your safety is a high priority for the bank, so I will briefly outline the venue's safety procedures.
If an emergency occurs, I may need to adjourn the meeting and ask everyone to walk toward the exit signs. If that happens, please follow all directions from the MCG staff and security team and listen for further instructions via the public address system. CBA has implemented a COVID-19 safety plan for today's meeting. Wearing a mask is not mandatory. However, if you would like to wear a mask, please feel comfortable to do so. Both masks and hand sanitizers are available here today. Please see a microphone attendant or usher if you would like either. We ask that you now switch off your mobile phone or put it on silent during the meeting. In addition, please don't take photographs or film or record the meeting.
I'm informed that we have a quorum present, and I declare the 2022 annual general meeting of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia open. A notice of meeting has been distributed and I will take it as read. I would now like to introduce your board, the chief financial officer, and the group company secretary. From my far right, Peter Harmer. Rob Whitfield AM, chair of the Risk and Compliance Committee. Lyn Cobley, who is standing for election today. Shirish Apte, who is retiring from the board at the conclusion of today's meeting. Genevieve Bell AO, who is standing for re-election today, and Vicki Clarkson, group company secretary.
From my far left, Julie Galbo, Simon Moutter, Chair of the People and Remuneration Committee, Anne Templeman-Jones, Chair of the Audit Committee, Mary Padbury, who is standing for re-election today, Alan Docherty, our Chief Financial Officer, and Matt Comyn, our Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. Also with us today are the other members of the bank's executive leadership team. Mr. Matthew Lunn, the former lead audit partner from our external audit at PwC, is also in attendance today. Matthew Lunn is the lead audit partner for the external audit of the financial statements for the financial year ended 30 June 2022, and is available to respond to any specific questions you may have in relation to this audit. Ms. Elizabeth O'Brien of PwC is also in attendance today. Elizabeth assumed the lead audit partner role on 1 July 2022, taking over from Matthew.
In line with legislation promoting auditor independence, the group requires the rotation of PwC's lead audit partner after the audit of 5 successive financial years. The agenda for today's meeting is as follows. First, I will comment on a number of matters which are important to CBA and its stakeholders. Matt Comyn, our CEO, will then speak. After Matt's address, we will proceed with the formal items and business as set out in the notice of meeting. We are delighted to be here this morning, our first in-person annual general meeting since October of 2019. The people of Victoria were hard hit by COVID lockdowns, and it's great to see so many shareholders in the room today. Welcome. As you know, this is my first AGM as chair. I want to thank and acknowledge the former chair, Catherine Livingston, who retired from the board in August.
During Catherine's five and a half years as Chair, and with many changes to the board and management, the bank has navigated some of the most significant challenges in its history. The organization is very different today, and on many measures, is a much better organization. Better for its customers, its people, and you, our shareholders. We are far from complacent. The job is never done. We are acutely conscious that we are stewards at a point in time. CBA is an iconic institution that, for more than a century, has played a vital role in the lives of its customers, the wider communities we serve, and the country's national interest. Putting the customer at the center of everything we do is the guiding principle of our strategy.
As your new chair, I am committed to ensuring the bank continues to support Australia's economic growth agenda and help Australia become a more sustainable economy, underpinned by world-leading digital capabilities. The past year has not been short of challenges. We adjusted to living with COVID and slowly emerged from lockdowns, and we faced our worst recorded flood disaster. The war in Ukraine, while a long way away, is having profound impacts on the global economy, including here in Australia. Many people are experiencing the sharp rise in the cost of living. We know from our interaction with customers that households and small businesses are looking to us to provide support when they need it most. The current environment also increases pressure on customers in vulnerable circumstances, like those impacted by domestic violence and financial abuse.
Through a program called CommBank Next Chapter, we have expanded support for victim survivors of domestic and financial abuse. Through this program, we operate a financial independence hub, delivered in partnership with Good Shepherd, to help those who need to reestablish financial independence. To date, we have helped more than 1,000 victim survivors get back on their feet. Despite the challenging external environment, the bank has a clear strategy and has achieved strong progress during the past year. Customers continue to embrace digital banking in record numbers. The CommBank app, rated Australia's number one banking app by Canstar & Forrester, continues to grow in popularity. Our digital technology, including artificial intelligence, means we can offer highly personalized banking experiences for individual customers relevant to their savings goals and spending habits. We have further simplified the bank, completing additional divestments of non-core businesses.
Last financial year, we completed the sale of a 55% shareholding in the superannuation business, Colonial First State, and sold a 10% shareholding in the Bank of Hangzhou in China. Thank you very much. You've had your opportunity to sing. Thank you very much. Just bear with us. We'll be back in action shortly. Thank you. If you would like to sit down, you're more than welcome to stay. Thank you, everyone, for your patience. If we continue, since the divestment program began in 2018, it has generated nearly AUD 11 billion in capital, and this has helped us return AUD 13 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. Providing exceptional customer service is at the heart of our ethos. Our people are paramount to helping us build trust with customers.
Throughout the bank, it's clear to see our people embody our values of care, courage, and commitment each and every day, and their dedication to helping our customers is evident. They at least were singing in tune. That's why it's important that we support our people with better policies, systems, and processes to reduce complexity so that our staff can provide better services to its customers. It's also imperative that we have a strong culture embedded in the bank that is grounded in the right values.
The bank has transformed itself over the past four years through the work conducted as part of the Remedial Action Plan, the RAP. This program of work, which arose from the 2018 APRA Prudential Inquiry, has been one of the most extensive programs ever undertaken by the bank and one of the most extensive of its kind in Australian corporate history. Last financial year, we completed all of the milestones. The RAP has led to fundamental changes in the way we operate and has helped us embed widespread change in the bank's culture. Turning now to our financial results. The bank performed well in the year to 30 June 2022. Our strong balance sheet and capital position has allowed us to support our customers while delivering consistent and sustainable returns to shareholders.
The bank reported a cash net profit after tax of AUD 9.6 billion, 11% higher than the previous year. We paid a higher total dividend for the year of AUD 3.85 per share, fully franked. In total, the bank returned to shareholders AUD 6.6 billion in dividends with a further AUD 6.5 billion return of capital. Climate change is a major focus of the board and management. As Australia's largest bank, we have an important role to play in supporting Australia's transition to a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. We are doing this through lending that will support the transition by, for example, lending more for renewable energy projects. We're helping customers make their own changes with products tailored to encourage people to make more energy-efficient choices, such as purchasing solar panels.
In August, we released our inaugural climate report. The report outlines the bank's approach to supporting Australia's transition to a modern, resilient and sustainable economy. For example, and very importantly, we have aligned our temperature ambition to 1.5 degrees Celsius and joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. We have strengthened our measurement and reporting of financed emissions aligned with the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, covering 80% of our 2020 lending portfolio. We have completed climate scenario analysis on 74% of our exposures, which will help inform our strategy, lending decisions, and product development. We are working to deliver further insights and embed them through our business in the near term. Going forward, we see an opportunity to not only apply these insights ourselves, but also share findings with government, industry, and our customers to help encourage an inclusive and fair transition.
Building on our operational emissions reduction targets, we implemented our first sector-level financed emissions reduction targets on priority sectors within our lending portfolio, covering 27% of our 2020 financed emissions. Specifically for power generation, thermal coal mining, and oil and gas exploration and extraction, we have implemented guide paths and interim targets aligned with the global International Energy Agency NZE scenario. We have partnered with the CSIRO to develop Australia-specific pathways to help not only CBA but also our customers and other institutions navigate a course to a low-carbon economy. I welcome the opportunity to continue the bank's focus on playing our part in reducing emissions and supporting communities through this transition. Turning now to the board. Following Catherine Livingstone's retirement and my appointment, we have appointed Simon Moutter as Chairman of the People and Remuneration Committee.
Julie Galbo has joined the Audit Committee and the Risk and Compliance Committee as a member. Standing alongside me for re-election today are Genevieve Bell AO and Mary Padbury. Standing for election today, having joined the board on the first of October, is Lyn Cobley. Lyn brings to the board over 30 years' experience in financial services. She's also the former chief executive officer of Westpac's Institutional Bank and chief executive of Westpac's Asia Advisory Board. She was also group treasurer of CBA until 2015 and during the global financial crisis. Shareholders, as I have outlined today, we have made good progress in implementing the bank's strategic priorities while helping customers and communities in need and helping Australia transition to a sustainable digital economy.
The board, with the support of CEO Matt Comyn and the leadership team, is committed to helping CBA build on the strong progress achieved over recent years and continuing to deliver rewarding outcomes for all our stakeholders. I believe the bank is well-placed to continue to deliver on our purpose, building a brighter future for all. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the bank's success, including our customers, for trusting us to serve their financial needs, our people, who work incredibly hard each and every day, and my fellow directors, for their commitment to ensuring the bank is well-positioned for the future. To you, our shareholders, thank you for your ongoing confidence and support. I will now ask our CEO, Matt Comyn, to address the meeting.
Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone. I'd also like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the lands on which we're meeting today. The Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I'd like to pay my respects to elders past, present, and emerging. It's great to be able to meet with our shareholders in person once more. As the chair mentioned, the past year has continued to test our nation. Our purpose, building a brighter future for all, has never been more important. We remain committed to being here for our country, both in the good times and when we are needed most. We have continued to focus on supporting our customers through natural disasters, the ongoing impacts of COVID, and increasing economic uncertainty. This has included.
Matt got a very special award today. You won the safety award for greenwashing. It's really good work.
Appreciate that.
Thank you. Thank you. They've actually given AUD 14 billion.
Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, for the disruption. One of the best aspects about annual general meeting is everyone is welcome. Welcome to stand up and ask the question, and we'll certainly endeavor to do our best to respond to those questions. As you can see, at some point, we certainly will be prepared to make choices to minimize disruption on the rest of the meeting and for other attendees. Thank you. I'll now continue with my comments. This has included offering natural disaster assistance to more than 2.7 million customers, contacting 5 million customers about government benefits and rebates, and helping initiate more than 2.2 million claims in Benefits Finder, saving close to AUD 500 million since 2019.
We're also very conscious that a number of our personal and business customers are feeling very concerned about rising inflation and rising interest rates. As always, we'll be here to support customers during this period of uncertainty and to help them understand the different options and support that is available to them. We also share the community's concern about the rise in scams and fraud and the increase in cyber threats occurring across Australia. To help, we've increased our efforts to keep customers' accounts and personal information safe and secure. We have a range of services and security features in place to help protect customers, including real-time monitoring and fraud prevention technology.
We've recently emailed 8.5 million customers, as well as sent 5 million personalized messages through our CommBank app to raise awareness and educate them about the actions they and their loved ones can take to stay safe online. We've seen a very significant increase in response rates and activity, including more than 60,000 new customers signing up to the Credit Savvy app. Through the app, there have been more than 55,000 requests for customers to be able to lock their credit file. Additionally, more than 240,000 unique visitors have recently viewed our CommBank Safe webpage to learn more about what they can do to protect themselves. This year, we have continued to execute our strategy to build tomorrow's bank today for our customers.
We are committed to playing a significant role in helping Australia become a more modern, resilient, and sustainable economy. As the chair mentioned, this year we released our first climate report outlining our position and approach to climate change, as well as our progress and commitments. Since June 2020, we have provided more than AUD 30 billion in capital and funding to help customers operate more sustainably. We've also provided innovative financing options like sustainability-linked loans, green and social bonds. With one in four home loans in Australia with the Commonwealth Bank, we're also providing customers with accessible solutions to reduce their environmental footprint. This includes developing partnerships, products, and services that help households understand and reduce their own carbon footprint and to save money on renewable energy. Businesses are a critical enabler of economic growth.
As Australia's largest financial institution, we have a clear role to play in supporting Australian businesses at this time. Having helped businesses during the pandemic, we're now supporting their growth while they manage through the current environment. At the same time, we've continued to focus on growing our relationships with our business customers and now have more than 1 million business transaction accounts and have increased business lending in the last year by AUD 15 billion. This year, we've continued to reimagine banking for our retail and business customers through new services and products that are based on the global best digital technology. For our retail customers, we launched Unloan, a simple, fast, and mobile-first digital home loan. Kit, a money app that's specifically designed to help improve children's financial capability. For our business customers, we launched CommBank Smart Health, which enables real-time healthcare payments and claiming.
Through our CommBank app, we're also connecting and integrating more and more features like shopping, discounts, offers, loyalty and rewards, benefits, and rebates. With 8 million customers now digitally active, our CommBank app has again been rated number one by Canstar and Forrester for the 13th and 6th year, respectively. Building a brighter future for all also means that we're leading in the support that we provide to our communities. For communities impacted by the East Coast floods, the CommBank CanGive appeal and the CommBank Flood Relief Fund helped to raise AUD 2.8 million to provide immediate relief and to support the ongoing recovery. The relief fund also provided an additional AUD 2 million to support community organizations in impacted areas. We also granted AUD 10,000 to many small community organizations to help their recovery efforts.
Our specialized community wellbeing team supported over 17,000 interactions with customers in vulnerable circumstances, providing confidential support, secure banking, and external resources and referrals. I'm very privileged to work alongside the dedicated people of the Commonwealth Bank. Record high engagement results show our people can see the meaningful difference that they make to their customers and communities, with 90% also saying they feel proud to work for CBA. This is also reflected in the bank being recently named LinkedIn's top company in Australia for 2022. The CommBank Staff Foundation, our people's charity, awarded AUD 3 million to the local community through organizations and grants to support their important work. Our people have again demonstrated our values of care, courage, and commitment when serving our customers and communities, and I'd like to thank them for their hard work and commitment.
Through our continued focus on our customers and disciplined execution, the bank has delivered another strong year of financial and operational performance. This has in turn delivered strong financial results, and as the Chair mentioned, an 11% increase in our cash net profit after tax. By serving customers exceptionally well and strengthening our relationships with them, we've been able to grow our retail and business transactional and deposits franchise above system. Being the leader in transactional banking and deposits is particularly important in a rising rate environment. This growth in deposits has also funded higher lending volumes to our retail customers, business, and institutional customers. During the year, we processed a record number of home loan applications to provide AUD 157 billion in new lending to households.
When combined with our sound portfolio credit quality and lower provisions, our operating performance for the year was 4% higher. Our continued balance sheet strength and strong capital position means the bank is well-positioned to continue supporting our customers and the broader Australian economy while delivering consistent and sustainable returns to our shareholders. We thank you, our shareholders, for your ongoing confidence and support. In this uncertain environment, we remain as focused as ever on supporting our customers and communities. We're also committed to playing our part in supporting the economy, promoting financial stability, and encouraging economic growth. Overall, we remain fundamentally optimistic about the medium and long-term opportunities for Australia, as well as our capacity to provide support in the immediate future for customers who need us.
Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in the bank's core retail, business, and institutional banking franchises to reinforce our proposition and extend our digital leadership. We believe that strong customer engagement and deeper relationships will continue to underpin our ongoing positive performance. On behalf of everyone at the Commonwealth Bank, I want to thank Catherine Livingstone, who retired as our chair in August 2022, for her contribution to our organization and the clear direction that she set for the board, the executive leadership team, and everyone else at the Commonwealth Bank. As Paul noted, we're a much better organization as a result of Catherine's dedication and leadership, and we wish her all the best for the future. As we look to the year ahead, we remain as committed as ever to delivering positive outcomes for all of our stakeholders.
The 16 million customers who consider us their trusted financial partner, the close to 1 million businesses who trust us to keep them operating and growing for the future, the 870,000 direct shareholders, and millions more through their superannuation funds who rely on us to deliver sustainable returns, and the 45,000 people who are proud to work for the Commonwealth Bank and come to work each day to serve our customers and communities. I'd like to thank our customers, our people, and you, our shareholders, for your ongoing support of the Commonwealth Bank. Thank you.
Thank you, Matt. As chairman of the meeting, I formally declare the poll on all resolutions open and that the poll will close 15 minutes after the meeting closes. You may now vote on all resolutions.
Link Market Services is the returning officer for this meeting, with responsibility for overseeing the voting process. Before moving to the items of business and inviting questions, I will outline the meeting procedures. When registering your attendance downstairs today, you would have received a colored card. You need your card to ask a question or to reenter the meeting. Yellow cards are for shareholders and proxy holders who may speak and vote. Blue cards are for shareholders who may speak but not vote as they have already lodged a vote or are a joint holder. If you are a shareholder and a proxy holder and have two yellow cards, it is important that you complete both yellow voting cards, one in your own right and the second as a proxy.
All other persons holding red or green cards are welcome to attend, but may not address the meeting or to vote. Before voting on the particular item, I will introduce each item of business separately and then invite questions. Before I explain the question process, I would like to acknowledge shareholders who submitted written questions prior to the meeting. We've reviewed these questions, and I thank you for your engagement. Matt Comyn and I addressed some of the themes raised in our addresses, and I'm sure we'll cover many of the other themes in the questions asked here today. For those here today, I will ask shareholders and proxy holders who wish to speak to move to the closest microphone located in this room, and there are many around the room.
For shareholders and proxy holders in the adjoining long room, please identify yourself to one of the ushers, and they will bring you through to the microphone at the back of this room to ask your question. Please show your yellow or blue card, provide your full name to the microphone attendant, who will introduce you to the meeting. If you are not here in your personal capacity, please also identify the shareholder you are representing to the microphone attendant. To facilitate the orderly conduct of the meeting and to ensure that shareholders attending the meeting have a reasonable opportunity to participate, I will take up two questions or comments at a time from each shareholder or proxy holder for each item of business. I ask that you make your comments and questions as concise as possible.
I also ask that questions be confined to the business of the meeting. Questions about individual banking or personal shareholding matters will not be put to the meeting. If you have a customer question, please speak with representatives from our group customer relations and customer advocate teams, who will be available after the meeting in the Percy Beames Bar, which is located on the level, this level next to the elevators you took to get to this meeting this morning. To the extent that you are able, if your question relates to a particular item of business, please only ask your question when we come to that item. For example, I know that questions on ESG and climate-related matters will be important to you. Item five is the appropriate item of business for these matters, and I kindly ask that climate-related questions be asked then. Although I'm not hopeful.
I would also ask that you are respectful of others during the meeting to ensure that we can have a constructive discussion on all matters. Following discussion on each item, valid direct and proxy votes received prior to the meeting will be displayed on the screen, and I will then ask the meeting to vote on the item. The voting exclusions for items three and four are set out in the notice of meeting. If you wish to leave the meeting early, you may complete your yellow voting card and place it in one of the ballot boxes as you leave. The ballot boxes are located near the exits and are attended by representatives of Link Market Services, the bank's share registry. Link Market Services will count the votes, and Ms. Elizabeth O'Brien of PwC will act as scrutineer.
As the results of the poll will not be available before the meeting closes, they will be released on the ASX and made available on our website later today. Following the conclusion of the meeting, refreshments will be available in the long room. There are five items of business to be considered today. These are consideration of the 2022 financial statements and reports, re-election and election of directors, adoption of the 2022 remuneration report, granted securities to our CEO, Mr. Matt Comyn, and resolutions requisitioned by a group of shareholders led by Market Forces. That is 5A, a proposed special resolution to amend the company's constitution. 5B, if that special resolution at item 5A is passed, an ordinary resolution titled Climate Risk Safeguarding.
Where undirected proxies have been given or default to the chairman of the meeting, they will be voted in favor of items two to four inclusive and voted against items 5A and 5B. We'll now move to the first item of business, which is to receive and consider the financial report, the director's report, and the auditor's report of the company for the financial year ended 30 June 2022. While there is no resolution for this item, there is an opportunity for shareholders to ask questions on the reports, management of the company, and on the audit. As I noted earlier, there will be plenty of time at item five for climate-related questions. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to move to a microphone to ask any questions or make comments on this item.
As a reminder, please show your yellow or blue card and provide your full name to the microphone attendant, who will introduce you to the meeting. We do have some questions, and I'll go to microphone number two, Mrs. Cook.
Chair, I've got Mrs. Christine Cook, shareholder. Go ahead.
Sorry. Excuse me. Welcome, Mrs. Cook.
Thank you. First of all, thank you to the board and the staff for the work done on your new environmental policy. Thank you for the decision to align future business to an aim of 1.5 degrees above 2005 temperature levels. I'm concerned about some details. Last year, a shareholder asked about the expectation outlined in your 2021 environmental and social framework that from 2025 onwards, you expect existing oil and/or gas producing metallurgical coal mining or coal-fired power generation clients to have published transition plans. You advised that you've already started conversations with clients on these plans. Does the bank have or has the bank developed excuse me, any criteria to assess the quality of these transition plans? And if yes, can you please provide this information to shareholders?
Can you also clarify what happens to customers who do not develop adequate transition plans by 2025 or fail to do so entirely?
Mrs. Cook, thank you very much for your question. You have really zeroed in on a most important part of our climate change focus. Firstly, we have set targets. In the last 12 months, as you acknowledged, thank you, the board and the bank has aligned its temperature ambition to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is an incredibly important position for the bank to take as we all lean together to address climate change. Also importantly, this year, and what has been fantastic, has the Australian legislative target of 43% put in place. It has enabled all of us, and particularly as we meet with large investors, but also with you and others here today, to talk about how we're actually going to support the transition. Supporting the transition is absolutely what's critical. We've introduced the methodology of using glide paths. It's not uncommon.
Our glide paths say that for the key sectors we've currently looked at, which I referenced earlier in the speech, we do have disclosed on page 47, I think it is, of our climate report, the glide paths for specific sectors, our performance to the sectors, and how we're going to now engage with the top 100 companies to start with on their transition plans. There are no absolutely formal guidelines as to how a transition plan should yet be laid out or audited or reviewed. That is an engagement process that we're part of, and we're talking to broader groups of investors as to how that methodology might be refined. In the past 12 months, we've spoken to 100 of our largest customers.
Many have transition plans, some don't, but have engaged with us to actually talk about what a transition plan might look like. It's really important that we engage with our customers and take the time in partnership to work with those transition plans, and that is what we are doing. I suspect that by 2025, there will be independent methodologies to look at those transition plans. Our large customers will need to be transparent about those transition plans. If customers do not have appropriate transition plans, with appropriate to be developed over the next few years, it will be very difficult for any bank to bank those customers. We're working through the transition. There is a really important part to the consequences of doing this.
The just transition for those Australians whose jobs rely on the companies that provide those services which will have to transition. As an example, there are 800,000 customers or people in Australia subject to the coal value chain. What we need to facilitate a speedier improvement in supporting Australians through the transitions is to make sure that there is both a social and just transition support program for those individual Australians who will be affected. From a Commonwealth Bank perspective, our values are care, courage, and commitment. We've had the courage to set a target.
We've got the commitment to deliver on our targets and to work with our customers to do so, but we must demonstrate our care for those customers who need support through the transition, whose communities will be at risk, whose mortgages will be at risk, and who deserve a right to be supported in the transition. Your question, Mrs. Cook, was absolutely on point, and I thank you for the opportunity to respond to it. I'm guessing you have a follow-up.
I guess I just would like to know whether when you have proper, you know, formalized criteria, whether shareholders will be informed. I don't think anybody underestimates the fact that getting to 1.5, keeping below 1.5 is going to be a hard ask for absolutely everybody. It's not easy, and I think we're all gonna have to make some really tough decisions, and we're gonna have to support each other. I agree, I believe totally in a just transition. We also have to encourage people to see that there are other jobs for people and help them get to that. I wonder whether you will share more of that detail with shareholders as that goes on.
Yeah, absolutely. I'll get Matt to comment as well. There are two aspects to it. The methodologies, when they're developed and they're independently established, they will absolutely be available to the entire community. That's point number one. Point number two, we are engaging with the CSIRO to develop glide path, and we've set out in the environment report which entities at which stage. For instance, in the next couple of years, we'll be working on agriculture. It's really difficult, but the CSIRO, as the preeminent scientific organization in Australia, is helping us work on those methodologies. That information, when it's completed, will absolutely be made public. We expect that to be sometime early next year. I'll get Matt to elaborate on the specifics for you, Mrs. Cook.
Thanks, Paul. Perhaps the only thing I'd add to the chair's comments is, as you mentioned, we're very supportive of industry standards being developed. It is early at the moment, and we certainly have a lot of ongoing engagement with customers. We do believe that those standards will be developed. For example, the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which as you mentioned, we're a signatory to, they're actively working on that. I do think in time there'll be specific published criteria for all organizations, financial institutions. As that becomes more consistent, we certainly would aim to publish the specificity around that.
Thank you very much. We are going to limit it to two questions and then move on.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much. We move to microphone number three.
Chair, I'd like to introduce Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black, who's a proxy holder. Thank you.
Welcome, Rabbi. Thank you very much for coming today.
Thank you very much. I commend you and the board on the 1.5. I also am cognizant that you wanted to put climate questions off to item five, but this relates to the reports. In the 2022 climate report, you said that as of 30th of June 2021, the bank had reduced its financed emissions exposure to upstream gas extraction by 34% and upstream oil extraction by 31% from the previous year. This is well above CBA's current 2030 targets. They were at 27% reduction for upstream oil and only 17% for upstream gas from the 2020 levels. Why is CBA sticking with targets that allow it to increase its lending to oil and gas companies over the next 8 years?
How does CBA reconcile the purported position of being committed to playing a leadership role in Australia's transition to a net zero economy while maintaining regressive emissions reductions targets?
Thank you very much, Rabbi Keren-Black, for your question. To reinforce the comments I made previously, CBA has set a target, and we have set an absolute target that we will be part of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance to have zero net emissions by 2050. We've also set interim targets. In relation, for instance, to thermal coal, we've said we'd have no financed exposures to thermal coal by 2030. That's only eight years ago. You'll see on page 47 of our report, and I think page 48 to which you refer of our climate report, that we still finance some emissions. They're a very small part of our portfolio, and you'll then see that we've also highlighted the glide paths that we expect to follow. As you mentioned, we are below some of those glide paths today.
We would hope that we continue to outperform. There are effectively third-party methodologies used to measure our performance relative to the glide paths, and we will continue to report against them. We're committed to our targets, and we're very clear about our targets, and we're working on the transition of how to get there. We will continue next year with our next version of this climate report to demonstrate our progress. I would ask you, Rabbi, to come back and judge us on our progress in twelve months' time, because that's what's really important to us.
Thank you. I didn't say that you were below your glide path, though. I actually pointed out that you're well above the glide path on both of the ones I mentioned, gas extraction and upstream oil.
Yeah. I'll just pass that to Matt. I believe we're below. Yeah.
Yes. I think, Rabbi. The disclosures, as the chair mentioned, are on page 47, I think you're referring to. If I took upstream oil extraction, what you can see is we're 34% below the scenario that's required for 1.5 degrees. You can see what our target, that glide path that we've published, and as the chair mentioned, we're going to supplement this with additional glide paths in coming years. We'll report consistently our progress year-on-year. You can see that in terms of our absolute dollar exposure, our emissions intensity, and how we're tracking to the 1.5-degree scenario.
As I said, in that particular area, in fact, across all of those priority sectors, we're well ahead of the progress that's required for a 1.5 degree scenario. Often we're asked the other side of that question, which is, "Well, why don't you lower the glide path to a, you know, to a different scenario?" Well, we're committed to 1.5 degrees, and as the chair said, what we're going to be is very transparent. Next year, we'll be here. You'll be able to see the progress that we've made over the coming 12 months, and our progress and continued progress against that 1.5 degree scenario.
Thank you, Matt. I think the really important thing is this is the most comprehensive climate report we've ever put out, our first report. We are on a transition journey, and just like the country, we've set a target, and we are getting the support of experts from the CSIRO. We've brought in great capability within the bank. We have an objective to be transparent and clear and to go on the journey with the country as to how we deliver on our commitments. I welcome those questions. Thank you very much. If I now move to microphone number three. Sorry, microphone number one.
Chair, I have Mr. Billa, a shareholder. Mr. Billa, go ahead.
Mr. Billa, welcome.
Mr. Chairman, we listen to your report. With due respect, if I can make a remark, you should talk a little bit less and more specific to the point, if I may say so. Next, you mention in the report everyone looking after the customer. Unfortunately, I am with this bank for 40-odd years. All my eggs are in one place with you. Now, I want to be more specific. The second time I was in Europe and I tried to communicate with my bank, with the, whoever it is, the branch, et cetera. Unfortunately, you have people which are not fully trained to answer or to understand what you are for. They block my card and my accounts. I was caught there because of the COVID. Then that's one point of communication.
Whoever is the director responsible for that should have better idea what to do, not just to be a director. What happened is, if you ring the bank with one question, you spend days, hours, somebody to answer, and then you talk to an answering machine which tells you nothing. What do you do? We are in the 21st century. New technology is good, but how we apply that, what system do you do? It's a disaster. You got nervous and said, "Oh, we are loaded. Another hour, another hour." Anyway, I don't want to dwell on that, but it's very bad communications. Absolutely bad. I suggest to the board, because I keep coming every time I am in Melbourne, to dwell on the negative misachievements, because to play the nice symphony that everything is hunky-dory does not help the bank.
Unfortunately, the directors should think they stay in that chair just to have a title, to have good remuneration from our pockets, and to put more money on a lower level to connect with the customer. I want, in the end, to make another mention. If you are shareholders with diamond card, blah, blah, and you are insured, it's a disaster to get to somebody. You can see, a nonspecialist, that the person answering, in my experience, is very out of the knowledge. Those are things which customer needs. It's nice to be everything 100%, but if everything is hunky-dory, you have no reason to be in a board to do anything. Other words, to improve anything. Everything is nice.
In the end, I would like to talk to a lawyer because I don't want to keep the people listen to my stories, which is expert in bank, excuse me, claim. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Billa, and thank you for raising the points you did. Firstly, I would just like to acknowledge that we obviously have not supported you as well as we would have liked to, and for that, I apologize. I think it's very important that we hear your message and acknowledge that you did not get the service you required. The second point I would make is that there are representatives, as I said, from group customer relations, and I will get someone to meet with you after the meeting to talk about your very specific situation, if I may do so. I think you raised a very special point about call wait times. I think there's empathy in the room here. No one likes to be able to ring and not be able to get through straight away.
That is an area that's really important to us. We do have 3,500 staff in five capital cities and 30 regional areas of Australia responding to about 90,000 calls a day, and sometimes that performance is not as good as we would like. We've introduced a concierge service to streamline how those calls are managed, and since that's been introduced, we've reduced our call wait times by about 60%. That's not always good enough. We'll continue to focus on it. That you know, the board is absolutely focused on our customer engagement. Over the last 3 years, in particular, the reporting of customer complaints, if I put it that way, or poor customer outcomes, comes to the board every time that we meet, and we have conversations about how we can do better.
That's a really important activity. I think, Mr. Billa, your feedback today is really important to us, and we do acknowledge that. I would ask that GCR actually meet with you after the meeting to support you.
Thank you. You put a very nice spin on it.
Thank you very much. If we move to microphone number four.
Chair, I would like to introduce Ms. Karen Large, who is a shareholder.
Welcome, Ms. Karen Large.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for hearing my question. I understand that CommBank was recently a lead arranger for a $1 billion loan to Santos. Three weeks ago, the federal court found that Santos failed to consult traditional owners for its Barossa project, and it overturned government approvals. As a signatory to the Equator Principles, CommBank, in theory, requires its customers to obtain the free, prior, and informed consent of traditional owners of their activities. According to the federal court, it has breached these principles by funding Santos. Regarding this important matter, I have a couple of questions that I would like answered. How did this happen? What types of due diligence does the bank conduct around free, prior, and informed consent with regards to corporate loans? That's my first question.
Thank you very much. Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, we won't be commenting on client matters specifically. I'll come back to, we have set ourselves a target that aligns with 1.5 degrees, which is as good a target as any entity in the world can focus at the moment. It certainly aligns with the government target and the legislated reductions that have just passed the Parliament. In relation to indigenous matters, which are referenced in your preamble, we have an indigenous advisory council. We engage with them on matters of all issues, whether it's social, economic or land welfare, and we get advice from them. We are listening, and we are educating ourselves. We're not speaking on their behalf, but on all matters, we do talk with them and engage with them.
In relation to the glide path we spoke about, we have expectations more broadly as to all of the customers to which we lend, and those expectations need to be met, whether it be legal or otherwise. For us to deliver on our targets, the emphasis of your question has to be taken into account, and it is being taken into account. As I mentioned earlier to Ravi's question, we will deliver each year a transparent performance assessment of how we are improving in making decisions in lending to clients, and we will continue to do that. I'm just going to pause and see if Matt wanted to add anything to that without any notice.
Oh, no, not specifically, Paul O'Malley. I mean, to all of the points that you raised, they're of importance to us. They're certainly as part of our ongoing environmental, social and governance reviews. As the chair said, it would be inappropriate for us to comment specifically on individual clients.
I think you have a second question, Ms. Large.
Yes. Does the bank apply any penalties if a company or project fails to obtain consent?
Again, without talking to specifics, we have protocols that we are following, and as I mentioned, the answer will be in what we actually do and what you see us do and what we report over each of the next 12, 24 and 36 months. All of the directors, the management team and our people want to see us deliver our care, courage and commitment to all aspects of Australian society, and we have to be judged in how we operate. I think your questions go to the core of us demonstrating that as we report next year with our second climate report, in particular. I look forward to seeing you again and perhaps having a follow-up conversation at that time.
You will. Can I just squeeze in one more question, and that is-
If we could just stick to the two for the time being.
Okay.
Feel free to come back up afterwards.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I'm sure I will see you again.
You will. Thank you.
If we move to microphone number five.
Chair, I'd like to introduce Mrs. Emily Cross, shareholder.
Welcome, Mrs. Cross.
Okay. Thank you. I apologize about my croaky voice.
Can we get you a glass of water? Any help?
It's okay.
Okay.
It's age-related. Forget it. Okay. I'm wondering whether the choristers we had earlier would have sung a different tune if they hadn't received a little nice fat dividend recently. Perhaps they may have sung something different. Talk about hypocrisy. Anyway, I'm not going to sing a song, but I do like the Building a Better Future for All slogan, and so I do urge fellow shareholders to vote yes to Resolutions Five A and Five B. Secondly, Mr. Matt Comyn, I do believe that you are a very proud person serving on the board, and so I always vote no to granting securities to the CEO. Why? Because you've got a lovely salary, and like the rest of us, you can use your own money to buy more securities. Third, my question.
You have indicated that you are strengthening all sorts of security, cybersecurity, to keep our money safe, which is great, but scammers and fraudsters are also improving their methods. How confident are you that you can keep ahead of this game, considering what's happened at Optus lately?
Mrs. Cross, thank you on many levels. Firstly, for coming along today, for recognizing our purpose, A Brighter Future for All. It does actually drive much of what everyone at the bank does, and we do need to be held to account for that. Thank you for also giving us your voting recommendations, and I respect the right of every shareholder to vote as they wish today. I would comment that Matt is an extraordinary CEO, and we are very lucky to have him, and I will say more about that when we get to that part of the business. In relation to cyber and scams and frauds, I think you hit on one of the biggest issues in Australia and globally today.
It is essential that every company, and it's front of mind for the CBA board, management team, for all of us, to ensure that we can maintain the privacy of all of our customers' details, our employees' details, our shareholders' details, and that we actually lean in and focus on what is an increasing, ever-increasing risk to cyber. I am going to, given the importance of the topic, get the Chair of our Risk and Compliance Committee, Rob Whitfield, to make some comments and then get our CEO, Matt Comyn, to make some comments, because I think cyber and privacy are of such importance to everyone in Australia that we should take the time to just talk a little bit further about that. Rob.
Thanks, Paul, and again, can I say thank you for the question. As Paul mentioned, I do chair our Risk & Compliance Committee, and I can assure you we genuinely share your concerns regarding the importance of protecting ourselves from cyber risk and the importance of protecting your privacy and our customers' privacy.
It's a significant risk facing all large institutions, and we take it very seriously. For a number of years, cyber has been a focus of our risk and compliance committee. In the last year alone, we had three external reviews. We were able to benchmark CBA's progress on our cyber program and benchmark ourselves internationally. These reviews, in combination with our penetration testing, our simulation exercises, our frameworks, help us prioritize our resources into protecting the bank in our cyber risk concerns. We, I can assure you, we give it enormous attention, but it's an area where we can certainly have no complacency. Thank you very much, Rob. Matt?
Perhaps I'll just add, it's a critical risk. It's something we're enormously focused on. We are very concerned and alarmed about the rise in scams and fraud that we're experiencing across the country, which have been, I think, extensively reported and now into the several billion AUD. It's extremely important from our perspective, clearly, that we're continuing to enhance our security and protect our customers as best we can. I would just briefly touch on a couple of things. One, as I mentioned, I think recent events have seen a very strong engagement from customers, and I mentioned specifically some information that we put up on the CommBank website or under CommBank Safe.
We've had hundreds of thousands of customers go on there and understand more about what they can do, for example, to better protect themselves, in the app, to make sure that they're aware of services that are free, through a third-party, credit, Credit Savvy, which enables someone to sort of lock their credit files, so nobody can make any applications within that. We do have a service that's available for customers if they're at risk or they believe they're at risk of identity theft. As an example, we're continuing to invest in more sophisticated tools and capability to make sure that we can work, you know, very closely, with our customers to protect them. We see it as a very significant risk going forward.
Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Rob. For any customers or shareholders here today who have specific concerns, as I mentioned, our group customer relations team are here. If you'd like to speak to them about that, they would be very happy to do so. I now move to microphone number two.
Chair, I have Mr. Philip Johnson, shareholder. Go ahead.
Welcome, Mr. Johnson.
Thank you, and thank you for the opportunity to ask a question. My question is asked on behalf of the Karankawa Caddo Native Peoples, the Latin and low-income communities from the Texas Gulf area. Since 2018, Commonwealth Bank has been one of the arrangers and participants in Cheniere's expansion of the Corpus Christi LNG terminal and pipeline project in Texas. Since then, the community has seen growing levels of air pollution, with the terminal increasing its permitted flaring emissions consistently over the years, therefore endangering local flora and fauna, and through the use of desalination plants, which were proposed by the community members. The community members include owners of the land for the Karankawa-Caddler tribe, and has exposed the many Latin and low-income communities residing in the area to the second-highest amount of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, thereby leading to respiratory and other illnesses.
Regarding this matter, I have two questions that I would like answered. Why has the Commonwealth Bank continued to finance and support Cheniere's expansion plans at the cost of the community?
As I mentioned before, we won't comment on client-specific matters, and I'm going to keep coming back to what we are doing, and what we're focused on is the targets that we're going after, which put incredible pressure on us to make decisions as to where we allocate our financing. We will be held accountable as time passes, and sooner rather than later, to what emissions we do or do not finance. The project finance, in particular, has to follow the Equator Principles, which requires engagement with indigenous communities. As I mentioned before, we are engaging with our own indigenous advisory council on how to ensure that that message gets through to us effectively and timely.
We expect our clients to meet their requirements under law but also under their own transition plans, and we will be further engaging, as I mentioned earlier, our engagement with major clients on reducing their own emissions relative to the transition plan that they have. That's the process we're following, and that's the process we're absolutely committing to publicly.
This isn't really so much about transition. This is just general pollution from the plant, which is a separate issue, I would think.
As I mentioned, I can't speak to specific issues, but where I will go back to, just on that point, is there's a starting point as to where the journey on climate reduction and emissions reduction started. We've demonstrated in our report where we sit on those curves, and we've said that we're going to improve our targets and report on those transitions every year moving forward in our climate report, and I think that's the specific answer without actually going into individual customer questions.
All right, a more general question. Where does the Commonwealth Bank stand in terms of furthering funding and allowing the expansion of such projects, considering the harm this project continues to cause to residents, ecosystems, and traditional owners in the area? And will the Commonwealth Bank continue to participate in such obviously social and environmentally harmful projects?
I think we share your concern, and I really appreciate, Mr. Johnson, that you've come today and raised those concerns. I think it's an indication of where people in Australia are today, that we must all reduce our emissions and be caring to communities all around Australia. Again, I can't talk to the specifics, but where we're at, we have set targets. We're committed to delivering those targets, and we've committed to transparently reporting on our targets. I think that's what you're asking. That's certainly what we're going to be doing.
Okay.
Thank you very much. Move to microphone number three.
Chair, I'd like to introduce Mr. Lee Norton.
Welcome, Mr. Norton.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Board, for the opportunity. It's great to be back in person. My question. I have two questions, and the first goes to the intersection between the climate reduction targets and risk to shareholders in relation to returns. With reference to, in particular, gas and coal companies more broadly. Professor Osgoode has, in his recent book, said that the fossil fuel companies can do, and I'm paraphrasing, perfectly well with their existing exposure and with their existing mines and extraction. But as we all know, they're engaged pretty solidly on exploration and expansion.
I must admit ignorance here, but you can clarify as to whether the glide path concerns Scope 1 emissions, which is emissions, which fall under the company's direct control for extraction, or whether they also go to Scope 3, which is emissions, which occur when fossil fuels are burned substantially overseas. If it is simply the former, then given the fact that the expectations are for a rapid decline in demand for gas and coal post-2035, it is possible that the glide paths are insufficient to mitigate the risk to shareholders over that time period. My question is, has this risk been taken into account in the context of Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions? I'll have a follow-up.
Sure. Thank you, Mr. Norton. There are various aspects to your question, so I'm gonna address some and get Matt just to make sure I haven't missed anything. CBA. I'll start with CBA. CBA's direct emissions targets are Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3. The Scope 3 is what drives our engagement with our major customers to ensure that they have appropriate transition plans and appropriate glide path targets that by 2025 are publicly disclosable. Many of the parts to your question, I think, will be addressed in that engagement process to the extent that CBA is actually banking or involved with that customer. Just to be really clear, we are Scope 1, 2, and 3, and it's Scope 3 in particular that's driving us to talk to customers.
When customers, large customers in particular, put out their transition plans specific to their entity, we would expect that they address Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3. Scope 1 are direct emissions, Scope 2 are byproduct emissions, and Scope 3 are third-party emissions. We will have a process that looks at it for us, and our customers look at it as well. That is the methodology we'll be following. Responding to an earlier question, that methodology, we're engaging with as many third party NGOs or government regulatory entities as possible to determine what's the appropriate methodology by which to assess those transition plans and their glide paths. I'll pause there and just get Matt to comment further.
No, thanks, Chair. Look, I'd just add to that, as there's clearly a lot of terminology in this space. For us, we disclose both our Scope 1, which is our direct emissions, Scope 2, which comes through our power generation. Scope 3 is all other indirect, but for financial institutions in particular, Scope 3 financed emissions are much more material because it includes all of the emissions that are generated by the customers from the funding that we provide to them, and hence why it's such a significant focus for us. I guess the parts that I would also add is, in the totality of our lending, as the Chair mentioned, even though it's 27% of our emissions, it's less than 2% of our lending.
It's not a significant part of our business, in terms of the totality of the profit. I think maybe bringing a couple of questions and even to Mr. Johnson to be helpful, perhaps on page 48, which is the energy value chain, it discloses our current lending to each of those sectors. You'll see the significant reduction. That page itself, if you go back to prior year annual reports, is also there, and you'll be able to see the reduction in lending to a number of the sectors that we've been discussing this morning.
Just to put it in perspective, since 2020, we've reduced our own Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 34% and reduced our Scope 3 emissions by 68% since 2020. We are actually making progress. I think you mentioned you had a follow-up question, Mr. Norton?
Yes. Thank you, Chair. This relates to the risk of however I may put it, as corporate greenwashing. Given the ACCC is looking to crack down on this, following several successful complaints, including, I believe, CommBank, how will you substantiate your green claims while you continue to finance fossil fuel companies and projects? The point is here that the burden of emissions reduction may sit otherwise with your customers if it's just through carbon footprint trackers rather than on the companies themselves who are responsible, some of them in the fossil fuel industry, as I mentioned before, for continuous expansion without, at this stage anyway, a viable transition plan as far as I can tell.
If that is the case, how will you explain to your customers the full extent of your financed emissions while continuing to say that we're a leader in sustainability?
I think, Mr. Lee Norton, you hit on a critical point I perhaps didn't address well enough earlier, is that the methodologies that are used have to, as much as possible, be third-party independently verifiable methodologies. That's to the critical nature of making sure, exactly as you say, that commitments that are disclosed by companies are actually able to be relied on by third parties such as yourself and others. The clarity of our climate report, our first climate report this year, has entirely endeavored to demonstrate where we've introduced methodologies, how we rely on them, and where additional work needs to go. I mentioned the CSIRO work. The CSIRO work on looking at glide paths in an Australian industry context is critical work because we need to be able to rely on third-party methodologies as well.
That is the way that we will do it. It's an evolving area, and regulators are looking at, as they should. We would like to demonstrate in our reports clarity and transparency of what we're reporting. That's how we're going to hold ourselves to account, and that's how we need you to hold us to account as well. Thank you very much. If we move to microphone number one.
Chair, I'd like to introduce Mr. Craig Caulfield, shareholder.
Welcome. Welcome, Mr. Caulfield.
Thank you very much, Mr. O'Malley, and welcome too, as the new chairman.
Thank you very much.
... of Australia's most important financial institution. There's a lot of responsibilities for you and the board there. Before my questions, I want to raise an issue of AGM governance that is of concern to me. There are several questions I'd like to raise later, some of which I speak for other bank shareholders that are interstate or remote. They're unable to physically attend the meeting this morning, online that is. They were unaware of this. Now, we've had quite a bit of dialogue, you might be aware, last night with Carmel Mulhern, company secretary's office. But CBA's notice of meeting was cleverly worded to obscure the fact that interstate and remote online viewers at today's AGM are prevented from speaking. There's no host here to speak on their behalf.
They can't type any questions into their computers. You did allow this last year. You did allow this the year before. It's been a long time, a lot of shareholders haven't had access. You speak of care, courage and commitment. I want you to add the word doubt whenever we hear those three words. Michael Hodge, the barrister at the Royal Commission, he said doubt is very valuable. Everything that we think that we've got right, if we just cast some doubt and ask some questions. The world has changed since COVID. That hasn't disappeared. We need the right culture to embrace feedback and diverse views. Now, I believe CBA has done this to avoid criticisms from people. You may argue that you're simply going back to the old ways of three years ago.
We had a meeting and those facilities weren't there. The world has changed and moved on. CBA, ahead of all the banks, is ahead in technology, and you're depriving this technology of all those people. Not the people here today, but the people that are listening online that can't contribute. They can't make a comment. They can't ask a question. They can't give feedback at any of the points that have been raised. Telstra held their AGM yesterday. Telstra allowed questions from the floor. They had a host that asked questions on behalf of interstate and remote people. They allowed people to type the questions into the computer so that they could be asked. I ask for some indulgence today if some extra questions are required from me, for example, on behalf of others.
If you like, I'm happy to identify who those other shareholders are. These are not my questions, by the way. This is just the governance of the meeting. They should be allowed to participate fully. I did request over the last two years. I attended online, and I had questions. They were properly made questions, and I am critical of many things that are in the Commonwealth Bank. I do actually try to provide my criticisms in a fair or a balanced way based on facts and based on what really has happened. Now, in 2020 and 2021. In fact, in 2020, I thought I was doing the right thing by letting Ms. Mulhern know in advance of the meeting that I'll be putting some questions up.
I think that that's just worked against me, because in 2020, my 6 questions I put through the computer, I received receipts for all of them. I was watching Ms. Catherine Livingstone on screen get to the point of, "Well, we have no more questions," and none of mine had been read out. I was disappointed and I was angry. I called Link. Link held me online for 45 minutes, and I watched the AGM close down as I was online. They said, "Mr. Craig Caulfield, your questions are being triaged." Now, I contacted the Commonwealth Bank later, Dr. Brendan French. He said, "We never received your questions." I was furious. I wrote to Link. It took me about 7 attempts, but as Mr. Matt Comyn will tell you, I'm pretty. I persevere.
I got a letter from Link confirming, yes, we received all the questions, and yes, they were passed to CBA. Vicki Clarkson's here. I'm not sure, Mr. Chairman, if that's, if it's appropriate for her to comment. I think this has been deliberate deception to avoid criticisms. When I received the annual report in the mail, the gentleman before was talking about hunky dory. It's out of balance. I'm reading all of the good things in here. You know, the AUD 700 million fine, the largest in Australia's corporate history, it's hardly mentioned. The Financial Services Royal Commission, the Commonwealth Bank virtually instigated it. It's hardly mentioned. Your Remedial Action Plan, the positive outcome from it, I mean, it sounds like a gold award, but it came out of culture, governance and accountability failures.
I think you haven't got it yet. I know that Mr. Comyn is a person of great intent and ambition. Ambition for himself, but for the company, for the shareholders, to do the best for climate change, to do the best for all stakeholders. I'm saying it's not getting through. These aren't my questions, but I'm worried for all those other shareholders out there that can't speak. Thank you.
Mr. Caulfield, thank you. I would just say it is really important for us to get this right. To have you here today and for you to be able to ask the questions that you need and make the comments for us does hold us accountable. At no point would we preclude you from asking further questions. If it's just two at a time, feel free to keep coming up, back up. Very happy to hear from you. In relation to the approach for the meeting, the notice of meeting was very clear that it would be an in-person meeting. The last time that we have been in person in Melbourne, I think, was 2016.
It's really important that we as a board are in the room with our shareholders and that you're able to ask the questions, sing songs, complain about the things that we're not doing well. We must hear your feedback, and we are hearing your feedback. I'm very happy to hear your questions. In relation to the notice of meeting, we also said that to the extent, and I said it earlier actually, to the extent that there are multiple questions that are very similar, we will address the themes, or we will address some of them specifically as indication of further questions. It's quite possible to ask the same question over and over again.
We will make sure the question is answered, and we'll answer it again if necessary, but at a point in time, and I don't have any of the specifics that you addressed, but we will make sure that we actually address those questions. Today we're open to hear the questions that you're asking, and I think everyone would here today would say that there is no holding back where people have a critical view to give us. We'll absolutely hear that. There are going to be some positive views. As a bank, and I think this is a point that you raised, we have had to reform ourselves dramatically over the last three years. There was a Royal Commission. We don't forget that for a moment. There was an APRA-instigated Prudential Inquiry. We do not forget that for a moment. Changing culture is not easy.
Changing culture takes tone from the top and great leadership. Under Catherine's leadership, we absolutely have that. Under Matt's leadership as CEO, we have that as well. This board focuses on culture, values, behaviors at every board meeting. We wanna get the strategy right, but we have to do it for our customers. I think, Mr. Caulfield, your feedback today is essential for us to hear, and please feel to be unconstrained in continuing to provide it. In terms of the specific questions, I think there were many comments. You asked questions about the NOM. I think I've addressed that. We are having in-person meetings. We do give shareholders ahead of time the opportunity to write to us.
I have a number of questions here that if they aren't addressed in the meeting, specifically from shareholders in advance, I'll read them out, and I'll do that in an appropriate point in time. In terms of how we manage meetings, we always look to address that and consider that each year. We have not had an in-person meeting since 2019. I believe it's important that we have an in-person meeting, and I do believe that we will get many of the questions and themes that all of our shareholders want asked today or asked in advance, and we did provide that opportunity. The webcast is available real-time to shareholders who can't be in the room today and will continue to undertake that methodology. Mr. Caulfield, I'm sure you'll have a follow-up.
Yes, on that. You haven't answered my question of why have you excluded shareholders, owners of the company that are interstate and remote from lodging questions? It's not about, are those questions the same as others? You don't know because they can't lodge the question.
In fact, that's not correct. They have had the opportunity to lodge questions in advance. That was clearly set out in the notice of meeting, and we have received.
I-
many questions via that methodology.
Of course, I understand that. Some people choose to attend a meeting or choose to lodge their questions in advance. If I've given my questions to Carmel Mulhern, the company secretary, in advance, and they've not appeared at the meeting, there's a lot of us that are not gonna provide those questions in advance.
Thank you, Mr. Caulfield.
It's a furphy for you to say people can provide them in advance. I'm not happy with the answer, and you haven't given me an explanation. In fact, if I'm to read from your CBA-
Thank you, Mr. Caulfield. Thank you. There have been a number of questions, and I'm very happy for you to come back. If we could move on to another question and then follow the rule of the two questions. I think there were a couple of questions there, so I'll ask you to-
They were just around your governance. They were not my questions. I've flown from Queensland and I have my questions, and none of that was to be raised until we knew that the others couldn't get online, which we only found it out about last night.
I think we'll beg to differ on that one, Mr. Caulfield, but if we could perhaps come back to your questions after we've moved through the following protocols that we've indicated. Thank you for traveling down, and very happy to keep answering your questions, but we might just share it around, if that's okay.
My first question.
Sorry, if we could move to microphone number four.
Chair, I would like to introduce Mr. Austin Caetano, who is a proxy holder.
Mr. Caetano.
Hi. Thank you so much for having me here. As you can probably tell, I'm a bit younger than most people here. I'm 15 years old. As young people, our generation is acutely aware of the future we are looking down the barrel of. As you've mentioned, we've already had a taste with bushfires, floods, and heatwaves, but we're terrified at the thought of it getting worse. While fossil fuels are doing the mining and drilling, it's banks like CommBank who are allowing them to continue, knowing full well the impact they have on our future. Young people know this, and they want to put their money where their mouth is. My first question is, how will you attract young customers now that you don't have the Dollarmites program and you continue investing in the fossil fuel companies and projects that put a safe future at risk?
Thank you, Mr. Austin Caetano, for coming along, and it's fantastic that you're a shareholder in the CBA. It is a good bank, and we do very much support the perspectives of all age groups within the Australian country. Coming back to the focus I've mentioned a few times already, the Commonwealth Bank has set an ambition of a 1.5 degrees Celsius change in the climate. That decision was made in the past 12 months. We have produced a climate report that is incredibly detailed, sets targets for ourselves, highlights the way that we're going to engage with customers and work through transition paths and glide paths. Very importantly, assesses the impact on individual customers and groups of customers and will call out nationally the need to make sure we've got an appropriate transition plan.
In terms of engaging with young people, we have to do it from an environmental perspective. It is equally important to our employees. Our employees want to work for a company that has the same aspirations that you've just described. Our employee engagement scores have improved dramatically over the last few years because CBA has stood up and said what it's going to do and then demonstrated transparently that we are moving forward. The other focus for many people in Australia is the shift to digital.
One of the things that we're finding, particularly with young people, is they do want to engage with us digitally, and we're investing an incredible amount of money to do that well and to get the feedback from those same groups of customers that you're giving today that we need to make sure that we don't step back from what's really important, and climate is really important. That's kind of the perspective to the first question, and you have a second.
Yes. Also, earlier in the year and last year, the organization School Strike 4 Climate reached out to all four big banks about our concerns with your fossil fuel lending and climate policies. We secured meetings with NAB and Westpac's chair of the board and CEO, but CommBank rejected us. I would like to once again ask to request a meeting with you to discuss our concerns, particularly as you make big decisions about oil and gas lending policies. Will you meet with us?
Yes. After the meeting, I'll get someone to come to you and get some details. I'll be very happy to meet with you. I have been the chair for eight weeks, so I'm kind of catching up on some meetings, but I'd be very happy to meet with you and your team.
Thank you.
If we move to microphone number five. Oh, there we go.
Chair, I'd like to introduce Mr. Edward White, shareholder.
Welcome, Mr. White.
Thank you, Chair. I must admit, I'm in a certain amount of shock. I came here to celebrate the fact that this particular organization has actually made quite a substantial profit. I mention just background. I've had 60 years as a chartered accountant, and the issue of compliance terrifies me. I know a number of people who are spending now one and a half days a week complying with all the regulations that keep on coming, and in fact really restricting the business to be what they're supposed to be, making a profit. The other issue that because I'm reasonably aged, is the fact that I just want to question the closing of branches and more of the computerization interlock with customers.
I live in an area where we've got to travel about 5 K to get to our nearest Commonwealth Bank. The fact that although I am, I was in charge of technology at Australia's largest university, I've decided not to take on technology. I'm in a local Probus. Our Probus members are having so many problems in simple banking. I just wonder whether, in fact, it's great the young people are here, but I'd like to put in a plug for us older folk who are probably, in many cases, not as competent as we should be as far as the technology is concerned. The other issue I'd like to state is that I'm a proud Australian. I love this country. I love this venue.
Congratulations, keep up the good work, despite the fact that a number of folks seem to be reasonably unhappy. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. White. To the first point in the reference to the profit, it's fundamentally important that the CBA and the financial sector of Australia is successful and is strong because we do underpin the confidence and the practical operation of the Australian economy. It is really important, and in many respects, Australia is very lucky that we have such a capable and effective banking sector, financial sector. It's, it is about the profit, but it's about the strength of our balance sheet, and it's about the quality of the regulation that supports us, the prudential supervision. In some respects, there's compliance with that, but there are many very good aspects that ensure that the banking system in Australia is strong, and that is at the core of what we do.
In relation to the branch network, we recognize that many customers prefer face-to-face interaction and want the branch network to be as accessible as possible. There is a structural shift underway in Australia. Mr. White, it's not to downplay the scale of the importance of people wanting to physically embrace branch banking, but 94% of Australians rarely now go into a branch. We have to invest in our digital engagement, and it's not age-specific. Our digital engagement with the way customers want to interact with us. Notwithstanding that, we must maintain an appropriate branch network. The Commonwealth Bank does have the largest branch network in Australia.
We have been shutting some branches, to be frank, but we have engaged with Australia Post, and we have 3,500 post offices that 98% of cash or ATM or branch activities can be undertaken. We have a branch network that is the largest in Australia, of which 35% of branches are in regional areas. We have the Bank@Post engagement, and we have a significant investment in the digital experience that our customers wish, which was particularly helpful during the pandemic and certainly created a shift. We will continue to work on the branch network, but to the extent that there are issues, and you have anything specific you would like to address today, group customer relations are here to help you, and we certainly do wanna support you.
Thank you for your feedback on performance, but also thank you for the feedback on the importance of branch networks to so many of our customers. Might move now to microphone number two.
Chair, I've got Mr. Jason Cole, proxy holder. Go ahead.
Welcome, Mr. Cole.
Thank you. Good morning, Chairman. My name's Jason Cole. I'm a volunteer representing the Australian Shareholders' Association. Today, I hold proxies for approximately 1,400 shareholders, totaling about 3.7 million shares, and that places the ASA about ninth on the CBA's register in equivalency. Consequence of being tenth in line is that the themes of my questions have probably been covered to some extent, but I'll excuse me, ask them in the interest of the people I'm representing. The first one is the ASA notes with some concern that the meeting is being effectively held as an in-person meeting only, with no real-time off-site participation as would be available with a hybrid form of meeting. We thank you for listening to our concerns within an earlier meeting.
Can you confirm that the AGM format will be reviewed by the bank after this AGM and consideration given to a hybrid meeting for next year's AGM that would enable greater shareholder participation?
Hear, hear.
Mr. Jason Cole, thank you for your question, and thank you also very much for the constructive engagement with the Australian Shareholders' Association. We do meet with your colleagues every year, and we do really value the feedback and the many shareholders that you represent. We thought it was important, I thought it was important to have an in-person meeting to engage directly with shareholders and to provide shareholders who can't be here in person the ability to submit questions in advance of the meeting. To answer your question, yes, we will always review the format of every AGM each year. We won't commit to changes, but we'll absolutely commit to reviewing it basically as well, given the feedback that we're receiving today.
Yeah. Second question. The ASA congratulates the bank on producing its first standalone climate report, detailing alignment with 11 recommendations from the TCFD, with transition pathways consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and acknowledging that this is only the beginning of the journey. In light of recent global and local developments in energy markets, can the chairman confirm that the bank will continue to support Australian companies developing and supplying LNG as a transition fuel to local and overseas customers, as well as assisting in the funding of the very significant infrastructure that will be needed to meet Australia's renewable energy goals?
Mr. Cole, thank you for that question. As I've mentioned before, we won't specifically talk to individual customers, and I'll come back to our strategy at CBA is to lead the transition. The transition in the last three or four years has been leading through the pandemic, supporting Australians get from one side of the pandemic to the next side. Many of whom were without jobs, without salary, and we actively engaged with regulators and with governments to ensure that people were supported through our lending and not requiring repayments of loans until we'd come out the other side of the pandemic. It was incredible learning experience for us, the power of good that the bank can do. Leading in the transition also relates to leading in the transition for climate change, but also the growth of the Australian economy.
We have to get the balance right, but we've been very clear today that we have set climate targets and that we have glide paths that we will follow and that we will be engaging with customers on their transition plans. Specifically to your questions about different sectors of the economy, we will engage with those customers and partner with them to support them establish transition paths and glide paths that are transparently available to the community, discussed by the community, discussed by governments, discussed by regulators, and discussed by shareholders to make sure that they're appropriate and that they fit our goals and fit their goals. We're committing to the process, and we think there is a tremendous amount of interaction necessary for us to get there.
As I said before, the federally legislated target of 43% has dramatically shifted the conversation between banks and companies and government as to how we get through the transition, not whether we should go through the transition. The how we get to will actually affect many sectors, hopefully, positively, but certainly with a lot of communication. I think that's the breadth of the answer that is probably most appropriate for your question. Thank you very much, Mr. Cole. We move to microphone number 3.
Chair, I'd like to introduce Kelly McKenzie, proxy holder.
Welcome, Ms. McKenzie. Thank you for coming.
Thank you. This question is actually asked on behalf of Nicholas Fitzpatrick, who's a traditional owner, from Yanyuwa country in Borroloola in the Northern Territory. He asks, "Fracking in the Northern Territory threatens water, sacred sites, our climate and land. Clearly, there are serious environmental and social governance risks associated with these projects in the NT. Obviously, you're not gonna talk about individual customers, but, you know, these are new greenfield projects that are going to go ahead if they have the backing of financial institutions like CommBank. Nick asks, will you confirm that you are or are not going to fund fracking projects or their associated infrastructure in the Northern Territory? What due diligence will you do on potential customers or projects in such a high-risk industry?
Thank you, Ms. McKenzie. As you said, and you're right, I won't talk on individual, specific customer perspectives, but the bank does subscribe to the Equator Principles, which do put rules around how indigenous people are heard by companies and recognized and acknowledged, and their views proactively engaged with informed consent prior to lending. That is very important. I will step back to say we have set ourselves targets. We have a really significant amount of work to do to make sure that we meet those targets. Getting to 1.5 degrees is not easy. As an example, the energy system in Australia, to get to 1.8 degrees by 2030 has to be 83% renewable. To get to a 1.5-degree reduction, it has to be 90% renewable.
That requires a threefold increase in power storage. A six-fold increase in power storage from today, a threefold increase in wind and solar, grid scale investment from today to 2030. The bank has to lend into that demand. AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, indicates that there needs to be some significant reduction in thermal coal. We're actually outperforming that reduction in our own targets. It says that there needs to be some gas. The discussion, I think that it really has to be had over the next 12 months is: Where should that gas come from? I think you would say there's plenty around today as well. Those conversations with the federally legislated target, with CommBank's targets in the context of a 1.5 degrees Celsius ambition is really difficult.
We're absolutely focused on working into that space. That's our commitment. In 12 months' time, our next climate report, which makes us accountable, which is what you want, I think.
Yeah.
Makes us accountable to actually articulating what we are going to do. From the board through Matt Comyn to the management team, there's pretty good alignment that we've got to get there. I would welcome you to return next year, perhaps as a shareholder rather than as a proxy holder. We'll see. Asking the same questions, 'cause I think we have to demonstrate real commitment to the style of question, the type of question, the specific question that you're asking.
Yeah, great. Nick and the community in Borroloola would like to invite the CommBank board to his country to talk with traditional owners and talk about these issues with them. They feel that they've been failed by the consultation projects led by the companies. Yeah, he wants you to know the majority of Blackfellas up in the NT do bank with CommBank, and that includes himself. He reckons that you should listen to them and keep that connection strong. Otherwise, they might just take their business elsewhere.
Thank you very much for your comment. We'll take that on.
Yeah, invite open for you to head to country.
Thank you very much. We move to microphone number one.
Chair, I'd like to introduce Mr. Jack Egan, our proxy holder.
Welcome, Mr. Egan.
Thank you, board and chairman. My question is on behalf of Lambie Superannuation Fund. My partner and I lost our New South Wales South Coast home to the devastating climate-driven megafires of three years ago. Since then, I've done all I can to prevent what happened to us from happening to others. CommBank is Australia's largest home lender, with mortgages being 62% of its whole portfolio. Its latest climate report says that 5% of these loans are already highly exposed to acute physical risks from climate change. Just this 5% is AUD 31 billion. At the same time, the bank has just AUD 1 billion loaned to new or expanding fossil fuel projects. Loans like this bring on global warming of 2+ degrees. In other words, the failure of the Paris Agreement.
Such failure brings even greater risk to CommBank's home loan portfolio. There is clearly a moral and also a very rational reason for CommBank to end finance for fossil fuel companies expanding the scale of that industry. Please tell me, a home owner, I watched it burn down before my eyes, how the bank justifies continuing to finance companies like Santos and Glencore when it's shareholders' money and my and many other people's homes on the line?
Mr. Egan, firstly, I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. I can't imagine how devastating that must have been, but we acknowledge that the fires caused a lot of loss, and you've seen that personally. Firstly, just my acknowledgement of that harm. In relation to specific client matters, I've mentioned we won't talk to that. I'm gonna get Matt to talk, though, to what the bank did specifically after the fires and the floods to support our customers, 'cause I think that's an important aspect that your question raises. As I've said in our climate report, we have set that 1.5-degree ambition, and answering Ms. McKenzie a moment ago, it's not easy to get there.
We are going to have to work extremely hard and engage with customers, both large customers who may be emitting customers and customers like yourself who are affected, and make sure that the care to those affected is real, but that the transition necessary for Australia to meet its targets is also achieved. We are committed to that. Our first climate report, I think, demonstrates significant focus by the bank on how important it is for us to set those targets and work out how to get to those targets. I think it's really important that Matt Comyn be given the opportunity to talk about how we are demonstrating care in the real-time situation that you've experienced.
Oh, thanks, Chair. Look, Mr. Egan, I again wanna pass on my sorrow at hearing that story. You know, unfortunately, we did support and see a number of customers who were devastated by the bushfires that you mentioned. Look, of course our role is here to support customers through those challenging circumstances. You know, I think it's very hard to offer sufficient support that would ever sort of offset a loss like that. I mean, from our perspective, clearly supporting through our customers through emergency, either fires, flooding, severe weather events is a huge priority of that. For us, we saw some of that in the introductory video.
I think perhaps also going just to the essence of your question, I mean, you're quite right insofar as lending to fossil fuels as you mentioned, is a very, very small part of our overall lending. The reason the way we think about it in the context of the Chair's mention in the climate report, we believe we have to act responsibly in Australia's best interest, and we believe that includes being science-led, being very clear and transparent about particular scenarios, in this case, to 1.5 degrees. We don't think it's a better outcome for the country to just remove all financing, even though, as you said, it's a very small proportion of our financing.
We think it's a much better approach and consistent and transparent to support Australia's transition and try to deliver the best overall outcomes. That's at the absolute forefront of our thinking. I think at least this year a significant amount of work has gone into that transparency. We're going to build out the glide paths and as the Chair mentioned, a particular focus in the next 12 months on scenarios that are specific to Australia and that's with the you know, Australia's peak science agency, the CSIRO. I think that enables us to then.
Play a leadership role, we certainly would strive to. As you mentioned, and we disclosed this year in the climate report, as you quite rightly said, there's about 5% of our home lending portfolio, which is a significant portfolio for the Commonwealth Bank, we would consider to be at high risk, primarily through flooding. Of course, that's a significant concern for us into the future, both at an aggregate level as well as at an individual customer level. We're, you know, very conscious as we go into a time of year, which is typically, unfortunately, also accompanied by severe weather events. You know, we're very conscious of the significant sort of flood risk in the coming weeks. I can assure you that a lot.
A number of the issues that you raised are absolutely at the forefront of our thinking as we strive to get the most balanced and overall approach for the country.
Thank you.
Thank you, Matt. If we move to microphone number four.
Chair, I would like to introduce Mr. Pablo Brait, who is a proxy holder.
Welcome Mr. Brait, and I believe we'll be hearing from you in relation to resolution.
Yeah.
5 shortly.
On item five, yeah. Yeah, look, I just have a quick question I wanted to dig into. There's been a lot of talk about glide paths and, you know, CommBank's commitment to 1.5 degrees. I guess I just yeah, I have a question checking about of what seems to me like a fairly significant gap, which is why I think this issue is still so controversial, you know, as we can see at this AGM. You know, as part of the 1.5 degree scenarios, you know, according to the climate scientists, according to the International Energy Agency, you know, you have to reduce exposure in line with the scenarios, but there's no space in the carbon budget for any new fossil fuel projects.
That's been made exceptionally clear by the International Energy Agency. No new oil and gas production, no new coal mines. It seems to me the glide path is only one part of this alignment with 1.5 degrees and net zero. Sorry, I'm just been wearing a mask all morning.
I'm sure we can get you some water. It's on its way.
I just wanted to check, so say for example, CBA loans to a company building a new coal mine or a new gas field, right? The company uses that money to build that coal mine, to build the gas field, and then that infrastructure is operating for decades. CommBank reduces its exposure to that company, you know, within the range of your glide paths and targets. The gas field continues to operate, but it's off your books and therefore not part of the glide path. Is that a correct interpretation of how that would work?
Mr. Pablo Brait, it's very good to have this conversation. I had it with your colleague, Julian, just two weeks ago, and we had exactly the same conversation. There is a starting point, and we've all started on the journey. We're committing to our glide paths, and we have to make sure that we transition our lending to achieve those glide paths. That's the way we're thinking about it, and that's the commitment we're making. That's exactly the conversation I had with Julian when I met with him, and so I'll share exactly that same answer with you.
Why commit to 1.5 degrees if your policies undermine 1.5 degree scenarios?
Yeah, I don't-
By supporting new fossil fuel projects? Why not just be honest then and say, "We're not aligned, but maybe we will be one day"?
I think we have a different interpretation of how to get there and scenarios are really important. Even getting to 1.5, and we've been very clear about that, is. There are many scenarios, but the independent experts say it's still incredibly difficult. We're being very clear about the fact that it is very difficult for the world to get to 1.5. CBA is looking at those scenarios. It will be science-led as to how we get there. We're using CSIRO as the experts to help us, and we're engaging with our customers, and we'll continue to do that. We must continue on the journey, and it's not going to be easy, and we're being very clear about the fact it's not going to be easy. That's the answer that we're kind of providing.
In 12 months' time, there will be further disclosure in our climate report, and I'm sure we'll be chatting with yourself and Julian again as per the progress we're making. I think that's the important time to have that follow-up conversation.
Yeah, I mean, in 12 months' time.
Mr. Brait.
You could have locked in emissions from gas fields and coal mines for another 50 years.
We have to be accountable to the questions that you're asking and those challenges, and we will be. I think in terms of two questions per person, if I may, and we will be coming back to you, I know.
Sure, sure.
Thank you very much for engaging.
Thank you.
If we move to microphone number 5.
Chair, I'd like to introduce Miss Joanna Richardson, shareholder.
Welcome, Miss Richardson.
I'm afraid I got here a bit late, and I missed some of the figures, and I've got a feeling my question might have been partly addressed by an earlier one. Also, in relation to the organization, I would have actually been interested to hear the questions that would have been submitted before the meeting in the hope that I wouldn't have had to ask a question. Even though it's been addressed by the earlier question about home lending, I think it might be worth reiterating the points. How much of home lending is for houses that are or about to be uninsurable or ones with low energy efficiency?
I could ask it as a very bloody-minded shareholder who's thinking about the risk of profit if people can't pay their mortgages off, or I can think of it as an Australian where people who have homes that will be affected by floods, fire, these sorts of events, and the misery of my fellow Australians. I think there was an earlier figure that it was about 5% of houses that are in difficulty. Anyway, that was my question.
Thank you, Ms. Richardson. I'll get Matt to talk to the specifics again. In relation to getting the balance right, I think this is to the core of your message. We have to set targets to improve, and we have to support our customers. In relation to homes and home building is a significant area of focus to us because that's where the majority of our business is. There is a new national building code that is out this year that will actually put more constraint around the environmental footprint of new homes and also renovations. There's also legislation that will support a focus of the new and improved home book, if I might call it that way, going forward.
There is a lot of homes in Australia that, where people in them who have mortgages are really reaching out to actually support reductions in their CO2 emissions. We're lending a lot of money to people who are putting solar on their roofs. We're providing green loans to support people with initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint, whether it be with white goods in the home or, as I mentioned, solar, and eventually with batteries. Hopefully one day, the cost of batteries can come down so that more and more people can be off-grid. I'll just get Matt to add a bit more detail to your question, Ms. Richardson.
Yeah. Thank you, Ms. Richardson. I mentioned earlier that pages sort of 34-37 might be of interest in the climate report, and I'm sure we can furnish you with a copy of it. It sets out from our perspective, over time, up to about 5% of the portfolio, which we would consider to be at high risk, predominantly from flooding, but clearly fire is also an issue that we need to contend with. Insurance, of course, is a really important issue for our customers, and from our perspective as well, given we're lending against those homes. That's something that we're clearly seeing the market is adjusting. We work closely with a number of stakeholders around that important topic.
I guess perhaps to underscore a couple of things that the chair said, when we look at the decarbonization pathways for power generation within Australia, actually a number of the things that were mentioned there, clearly shifting more of the grid towards renewables. Actually, things like the new building and construction codes, which will impact both new renovations. I think it's over AUD 100,000, maybe AUD 150,000. And new builds actually have quite an important impact, as do more efficient appliances within the home. And the chair mentioned that we do have a green loan, which is at 0.99% fixed, which is clearly a low rate in the current environment.
You know, we're deliberately creating that incentive to help our customers fund the capital expenditure that's often required or accompanying to, say, install solar panels or, you know, smart meters or batteries to be able to more efficiently manage their own electricity.
Thank you, Matt. We've got a question from microphone number one. Just to give you some feedback and to pick up on Ms. Richardson's question, I do have a number of questions that have been pre-submitted in relation to item number one. I have some in relation to later items, which I'll read out at that time, but after the next question, I might just feel free still to come forward, but I will take some time to read out some of the questions received in advance. Microphone number one.
Chair, I have Mr. Craig Caulfield, shareholder.
Welcome back, Mr. Caulfield, and thank you very much for bearing with me to circulate the questions, but we're gonna keep coming back to you.
Thanks very much. I appreciate that, Mr. O'Malley. Rising interest rates are sort of on everyone's mind at the moment. Inflationary pressures we're all feeling. Oh, by the way, congratulations to the chief economist in the team at the Commonwealth Bank. If I'm correct, of the four major banks, your team correctly picked a quarter of a % rate rise rather than a half a % rate rise.
I might just interject and say our chief economist is here, and that was correct, and we're very impressed with his forecast. We're now holding him to account to be perfect in future as well.
Yeah, he may receive offers from other banks, but anyway. Let's keep it quiet in the room. Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe placed approximately AUD 200 billion of emergency level funding at around 0.1% to the banks for the purpose of on forwarding to homeowners and businesses and support the economy through the disaster of COVID. Much of that was at fixed rates that might have been around about 2%, a little over 2%, 2.2, et cetera. A lot of that was at 2- or 3-year fixed terms. This might have started perhaps 2 years ago. We're facing into a very worrying prospect right now where fixed rates are ending.
I had a friend in where I live just talk to me last week and said, "Oh, I've just got a look at my loan, and I'm shocked at the new variable rate," which might be 5-point-something% coming off a fixed rate. That's, you know, that's a 100 or 150% increase in the interest rate component. A lot of people weren't expecting this. I recall the Governor, Philip Lowe, talking about interest rates not rising until 2024 and giving us some feeling of comfort that there would be a period we might renegotiate those fixed loans. That's not happening, and he's acknowledged that now, of course, himself too.
We've had 5 consecutive rate rises, but there's thousands and thousands of Australians, bank home loan customers, CBA is the largest with 40% market share, that is facing into this right now, and obviously you're aware and cognizant of this. Two questions: How will CBA provide care, courage, commitment, and access when a customer is in hardship? Might be financial hardship or emotional distress. You know, and I'm aware that in, when I was in that situation of hardship and distress, CBA took legal proceedings to repossess our home and farm, and we saved it because we fought the bank. We fought you guys that hard, but it was incredibly distressing. But that question is, what will you do for the other people that are now facing into that now?
Thank you, Mr. Caulfield, and there's a lot to your question. On the last point, I won't comment on the specific circumstances. I know you've had many conversations with members of the bank, including Matt, so I'll park that but acknowledge that concern. If I may come to interest rates, it's incredibly difficult in a rising interest rate environment, which we have not seen in Australia for many, many years. In context of the care, courage, and commitment, I think the pandemic demonstrated how the bank can absolutely engage with customers, support customers, and not require repayments in any form for an extended period of time during the pandemic. That was supported by regulators who adjusted regulatory settings to facilitate that.
It was supported by the Reserve Bank that provided funding at a lower rate at a time when we weren't receiving any funding from our customers in the form of interest payments. I think what was very important during the pandemic is everyone worked together to effectively help Australians get to the other side of the pandemic. It was a really special time, not so much if you lived in Melbourne like many of us do, but it was a special time to actually work together. As we move into times of increasing interest rates, Matt will talk to the specifics, our strategy of leading in the transition, I've talked about it in relation to the pandemic, I've talked about it in relation to climate change, it equally is a focus at a time of rising interest rates.
We again have to be cognizant that many customers will find it incredibly challenging, particularly, as you said, they roll off fixed rate loans into variable rate loans. There's a whole lot of processes we follow before we even provide a loan to mitigate that. The lesson that was reinforced to us during the pandemic was proactive engagement with customers, and that proactive engagement is occurring today. Having multiple engagements directly, if possible, prompted through the app, if necessary. Making sure that people are aware that rolling off a fixed rate loan sometime over the next 12 months will see a step up in interest rates. Your question really highlights that is a risk that we need to bring to people's attention.
It is one of the questions that was sent in advance, which is almost word for word in some respects, what you've just asked. We've got to get that right, and it's important that we do. In terms of the specifics around the TFF and other strategies that we undertake, I'll get Matt to add to that, if I may.
Governor, thank you. Nice to see you again, Mr. Caulfield.
You too, Mr. Comyn.
Look, a couple of things. Particularly, I just perhaps to reassure others that a lot has changed in banking over more than a decade. Just to sort of I think for clarity to reference the issues that you had sort of predated certain current times. As you said, we had the opportunity to engage and discuss that matter, which I won't go into any detail. I guess I say that on behalf of the Commonwealth Bank and across the banking industry, there's been an enormous amount of focus on how to best support customers during challenging times. I think positively, that was well demonstrated during COVID.
Of course, there will be future periods of, you know, economic difficulty and, heaven knows what other challenges, may occur. I mean, specifically to your point, you're quite right. The cash rate has risen quite sharply in recent months, and our economics team are forecasting, we believe reliably, another 25 basis points, next month. We think that rates will be on hold from there, but there are many others who believe rates will continue to go higher than that. It's a very important focus and priority for us and, Angus, who runs the retail bank in particular, to be engaging proactively with customers well in advance of their fixed rate maturity so they can best prepare for that.
As we sit here today, the overall portfolio and the economy is very strong and hence the reason why they're continuing to lift the cash rate. We are at sort of beyond full employment, but absolutely recognize the concern and anxiety for many customers with rising cost of living with interest rates. We've spoken a lot about energy, and there's been a lot of coverage on energy prices and the forecast increases over the next 12 or 18 months. I think as your question demonstrates, we think it's a very important period to support customers. We're very confident about the overall outlook for the Australian economy, but recognize that every individual customer's circumstances are different and we need to take that into account, and we're absolutely committed to doing so.
Mmm-hmm. Thank you. It's more. I'm not droning on about my case here. No, I respect that. Knowing my case, it's that emotional time that people are going through. Financial is part of it, but it's emotional support. I would like to hear that the bank has thought about the emotional impacts on people. Yes, you'll be stepping up, you know, financially and you know during COVID you showed that. What things are you know, have you got strategies now that are in place ready for these people coming forward so that. You know, I remember myself, I couldn't make a phone call. I couldn't take a call. You might, it might be the bank calling someone to say, "We're here to help." You might be legitimately reaching out. You know, consider these things.
Well, we need to send an email or we need to send a letter. How we describe the letter, what's the tone of this letter? I know I received letters and it was like, throw that away. Other letters, it was like, "Okay, they might be here to help." I want you to be all cognizant of that, to really think about that interface and how it comes across. I know it's much better now than it was years ago, and we've all been through learning journeys. I want to safeguard those people in the future that are going to face into that, but don't even know it now.
No, thank you. That's, I think it's a very fair comment and it's a concern that looms large for us. We recognize and we see it. A number of us spend time in various operational areas of the organization speaking to customers. When in financial difficulty, that can be a very stressful set of circumstances, and it's often accompanied by, you know, other events. It could be loss of employment. It could be illness of a loved one. It's a very challenging time. Not all of our customers will be in that situation. Many are in a very strong position. We do have a number of different options for the way we'll communicate with customers. I think as your question is focusing on, some will need, you know, more support than others.
As Australia's largest financial institution, we think it's critical that we're able to provide that support as best we can.
And-
Yes.
Mr. Caulfield, if I could just add to that.
Mm-hmm.
You have today here, physically in front of you, the entire board and management team, and your message about looking after the health and well-being of our customers is being heard loud and clear. It's equally important, and this is where we do get significant focus all of the time to reinforce your message, is to look after the health and safety and well-being of our employees. Because our employees have to make those calls, have to receive those calls. We have to support our employees because they find it equally difficult, and we have to support our employees to support our customers. It's a really difficult and challenging area, and it's one that in the people and people and remuneration committee, on the people side, we're looking at all of the time.
I'd like to thank you for calling that out because it's fundamentally important for us to look after our customers and our employees because it is that engagement between the two that creates a better outcome for all. Thank you for that perspective.
Yeah. Thank you, Mr. O'Malley. The second part, second question with this is much shorter. Would you be prepared to meet with us? You know, I represent some bank victim groups, as you've said to several other people that you would meet with them.
I'm gonna have a very busy calendar, Mr. Caulfield. I, as an incoming chair, I think I would very much like to meet. I'm not going to commit to meeting with everyone, but I'm doing that today. Keep asking and I'll see what I can do. Mr. Caulfield, I'd be very happy to meet with the group that you're representing because that would be part of my induction as a chair, and I would be happy to do that.
Yeah. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
Yes.
We move to microphone number two.
Chair, I've got Mr. Howard Pascoe, shareholder.
Mr. Pascoe, would you like to meet as well?
No, my friend, but I, on behalf of all of Victoria, on behalf of everyone that lives in Melbourne, congratulations that you're in Victoria with your annual general meeting. I think it's just marvelous. Hip hip hooray. Not only that, but you're in the Holy Grail. You are in the Melbourne Cricket Club members section, the oldest club in Victoria. 100,000 people were here on September the 24th for grand final of the AFL. I've noticed your tie, and people may recognize my tie. Once again, congratulations. Chairman Paul, you may consider encouraging your board to shift to Melbourne to have your head office rather than Sydney. It's Melbourne versus Sydney, as you're very much aware. We'd love to see you shift your head office to here.
Now, the one constructive point I'd like to make is you're competing, a competing bank is funding offshore wind farms off Korea. Now, any of us that's been on the Spirit of Tasmania, crossed Bass Strait, or anyone that's been involved with the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, you know how wild and woolly the wind is on Bass Strait. So maybe in the future to get our electricity that runs the lights and everything here, instead of the Latrobe Valley with our brown coal, that we fund a whole lot of offshore wind farms in Bass Strait to generate the electricity, and that solves our climate problems here in the state of Victoria.
Welcome once again to Melbourne.
Thank you, Mr. Pascoe. This tie is quite unrelated to this room, but I think it is wonderful to have the annual general meeting in Melbourne and at such an iconic place. Thank you for your welcome. In relation to renewables and investment in renewables, I think you've actually hit on one of the most substantial challenges of our climate transition, and that is that the grid needs to be just about completely renewable in the next eight years. To meet a 1.8 degree reduction ambition, Australia's component, the grid has to be about 82% renewable. To get to 1.5, it's gotta be 90% renewable. CBA has a target of providing at least AUD 70 billion in cumulative funding to renewables by 2030.
To 2022, we've already provided AUD 30 billion, so that's across a whole range of renewables. Our lending exposure into renewables is one of our largest growth areas of lending, and it's an area that we will do want to contribute to. In talking to the previous president of COP26, who is a UK Cabinet Minister, he made the comment that for the U.K. to meet its targets, it has to increase its offshore wind turbines from 15 gigawatts to 50. Gigawatts of capacity. Not only does Australia have that challenge, other countries have that challenge. CBA is lending into that. It's a clear commitment. We talk about it in our climate report.
That lending and growth in renewables is actually almost the biggest challenge to make sure that we can meet that investment as a nation in the right timeframe. Thank you again for your welcome. If we move now to microphone number three.
Chair, I'd like to introduce Mr. Simon Livesey.
Welcome, Mr. Livesey.
Good afternoon, everybody. I suppose it's afternoon now. I've got some points. First of all, the choir. Where was security? You were all sitting there like stunned mullets. When I come out to a place like this, I wanna feel safe. There was that thing in Thailand the other day, you know? Nobody did anything for a while. Okay, I don't think much of this venue myself. I think it's bloody a long way from transport, and it's freezing cold. People are wearing bloody hats and scarves in here. That's not right. Okay, privacy. The last federal election, I got letters and phone calls from Frydenberg and others wanting to know how I was gonna vote. Where are they getting this information from? I have now blocked my phone from it taking any calls other than numbers that are in the phone.
Another thing, if you can't answer a phone call, take our number and say you'll ring us back. Don't keep us hanging on the phone like that man who was overseas and never got anywhere. By the way, I like Matt's lapel badge. Be a nice gift for the people that come to the AGM in future, if not now. Yeah. I'll have that one if you don't want it.
He does wanna keep his jacket.
Yeah, well, you can keep the jacket. AUD 2.8 million for floods, et cetera. That's nothing to crow about in, with all that. They were talking millions up there, and I think that's only probably a couple of months of Matt's pay. The other one is, how old can a shareholder be? Somebody got up and said they were 15 years old, and I've spoken to somebody else here, and they said they're too young to be a shareholder. Is that right? Include in the annual report the time and the place of the annual meeting. Sometimes it's very hard to work out where and when it's going to be, and that happens with a lot of companies. It makes it hard to plan if you wanna, like, you know, nick off for Christmas or if you go to hospitals or whatever.
That fella that was worrying about the interest rates being low, well, I can tell you, I had a Commonwealth Bank housing loan in 1990 or whatever it was when interest rates hit 17%-18%. All they did was extend the loan. Instead of making monthly payments, I made weekly payments, and that got me through.
Mr. Livesey, thank you for all of your comments.
Yeah.
I don't-
Can you turn the heating up?
The request has gone out there. You have the microphone, sir.
Yeah.
In relation to the choir, I've made the judgment that we were safe and that those shareholders were making a point, and it's valid, as Matt said, for everyone to have an opinion and to provide a perspective, and we do wanna be open and welcoming. When the gentleman approached the stage, that was not appropriate, and action was taken. I take your point, but we do take your safety very seriously. When it's not part of the agenda, it can be concerning, but we have the appropriate skills and capability here to step in if necessary. In relation to the venue, thank you for the feedback. I can tell you that next year I think that the AGM will be in Sydney, so we won't be back here next year.
All of the feedback that we're receiving about the AGM is actually considered. I'll come back to privacy because that's fundamentally important. I will highlight that for the call waiting, we have introduced the concierge service, which is reducing call waiting times, but we will always do more there.
Yeah.
The issue with the floods, I'm sorry, and I'll talk to the notice of meeting, which is sent to all shareholders and available on the website, does actually provide the details of the AGM, rather than the annual report because it's determined subsequent to the annual report's release. The notice of meeting is the document I would always point you to. In relation to the floods, when people are challenged, and whether it's fires, our commitment is to be there to provide financial support or access to financial support through mobile ATMs or mobile banking services so that those who have been affected can continue to access the financial accounts they have or to pay bills. It's that role that we take very seriously, and we deployed during both the floods in Lismore and the fires on the South Coast.
In relation to privacy, I'll point back to the question that we were asked earlier around privacy and cybersecurity in particular. I think every individual's privacy is important, and the focus and the intent with which we focus on ensuring that we do everything we can to undertake the steps necessary to focus on your privacy is important. We're not complacent. We can't be complacent. The head of APRA said yesterday that the risk just continues getting harder and harder. As a bank, we've gotta make sure that we invest more and more and ensure that we have the right skills there. The privacy point that you raised, I think, is the one that we have to keep focusing on and keep coming back to, and we are doing that.
Should we think about the question when people ask you all these privacy questions, whether we should answer them?
I think that's a very good point. I'm gonna get Matt to talk specifically to some conversations we've been having about regulators as to how to improve the advice that goes out to people when they are, in fact, approached and are uncertain as to whether or who is approaching them. Because it's that confusion that people who are perpetuating scams are actually using to actually achieve those scams. I think just to pick up on your point, Mr. Livesey, I'll get just Matt to elaborate on that again.
Just a couple of brief points, Mr. Livesey. One, the third party that you mentioned in terms of where were they getting their contact details from, I can absolutely categorically assure you.
Well, that was Josh Frydenberg.
Well, it's not coming from us. We don't share our data with any third parties. To the other point, which is also a very important point, we have worked on, and it's something that we're talking about across industry as well as within the banking association about being as clear as we possibly can for customers about when a bank will contact you, when they won't, and exactly what the circumstances are. I think probably the best advice is hang up the phone and call the bank back versus accepting that it may be someone purporting to be a financial institution. There are some technologies available that allow people to you know simulate other phone numbers. I really do believe it's an area that customers cannot be too careful.
Okay.
Thank you very much, Mr. Livesey.
Shareholder, shareholder age?
There is no age restriction on.
Okay.
Shareholders as far as I understand. Thank you.
Thank you.
If we move to microphone number 4.
Chair, I would like to introduce Ms. Darcy Carruthers, who is a proxy holder.
Welcome, Ms. Carruthers.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I second the point about the temperature in here, but otherwise, great selection of venue. I've got a question about exposure to nature-related risk. I understand that this year, the bank joined the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures forum. According to CBA's 2022 climate report, it's working to further understand the bank's impact on nature. In regards to this, has the bank conducted a sector or location-based materiality assessment of its exposures to nature-related risks through its lending and investments? When does the bank plan to start reporting on nature-related impacts and dependencies?
Thanks very much, Ms. Carruthers. Again, I'll come back to the climate report. As you mentioned, we're highlighting that we are engaging with the appropriate groups, which is an expanding amount of groups, to develop our knowledge and understanding of how to even assess that risk and the frameworks to follow. We will continue to do that. We will continue to provide updates in our next climate report that might address some, but not all of the aspects you've raised. We will build a comprehensive framework over time in how we're going to do that. I think it's the first question I've heard in some time at an AGM, which highlights that this is an important and emerging activity that we as a bank and others have to focus on more broadly.
I would say that a significant number of our customers are in the agricultural sector, and they deal with nature through animal husbandry or through cropping, every day. Our bankers are out engaging with those customers in particular, and there is a lot that we can learn from the agricultural sector in the space to which you're talking.
If I may, when does the bank plan to set and report on nature-related targets? Could that be next year?
We will talk in next year's climate report about our approach to that. Where we get to over the next 12 months is what we'll report back to you. In terms of a lot of work went into ensuring that we were clear about the targets we're setting in CO2 reductions. We have a lot of work to do in nature-related aspects. I think what we will do and what we'll commit to do is providing an update on our progress next year. What that update is will be determined over the next 12 months.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question. If I now go to microphone number one.
Chair, I'd like to welcome back Mrs. Christine Cook, our shareholder.
Welcome back, Mrs. Cook.
Sorry. Thank you. As a loyal customer to CommBank for about 65 years and a shareholder in this business since, I think it's 1991 that it was privatized and became shares were available. I'm worried, really worried. I'm worried about my grandchildren. I'm worried about all your staff. I hear you talking all through this, through all the questions about environmental issues, and I feel like there's not a lot of grounded responses to things. That frightens me because I then hear Matt Comyn saying that there's you listen to the science. The science says not 2050. The science says we have to be net zero emissions by 2035.
I asked earlier about what will happen to customers who haven't accepted your transition policies or just ignore it by 2025, and I think a lot of people just wanna know some clear answers. I'm worried because clearly there will be stranded assets, and it's fantastic that you lend money to people putting solar panels on individual actions. The truth is, the great climate crisis that we're facing, the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced, is not gonna be solved by individual actions. Yes, we all have to take responsibility for what we do, but the people who have power are the corporations and governments. CBA is one of the most powerful organizations in this country.
I really applaud the decision to aim for 1.5 below or below 1, but that's not gonna happen unless we act much faster. Unless there are clear answers about how we get off fossil fuels and how we end those contracts for loans to all those big fossil fuel companies, we're not gonna achieve it. I'm worried that CBA, and that's my money and my business, will go down the gurgler or will be diminished because there are banks now working that have much better green policies and young people won't come. Look here, they're old. I think you have to think very carefully about that. I'm sorry if I'm being bold and brutal, but I'm worried about my grandchildren and your staff.
Thank you, Mrs. Cook. I think we all share your concern, which is why there's such clarity in the climate report. I think you're picking me up on not specifically addressing one of your earlier questions, is that for those large customers that choose not to have a transition plan by 2025, we will not be able to bank them. That was a specific question you asked earlier, and I apologize for not addressing it directly. I think the earlier comments, the comments you've made, as I've said, we are all committed to our targets. They're really difficult to achieve. There are a number of scenarios to get there. We all have to work together, and I think we've made that point today. I did answer that specific question.
I did say earlier, if I may, that I was gonna read out some of the questions received earlier. The reason I did it, because the question that was asked was specifically to interest rates, and that was the question I was going to read out. I do have a question on RIM. There are many questions on climate, and there was a question on mining in relation to how we're supporting those Australians, those 800,000 Australians, for instance, in coal, through the transition. That is why I referenced the need to have a just transition with social transition plans, such that people are able to make sure that there's security if their business that employs them goes out of business, that they're actually provided a social transition plan.
I think that's something for the whole of Australia to focus on. There is another question which I'll get Matt to add on, is there's been the question about interest rates, but we've also received questions about, deposit rates and deposit rate increasing, and the levels to which deposit rates increase. Management particularly look at, the balance between, our short-term variable loans, long-term loans, our deposit rates. There's a lot of competition in the banking sector with new entrants coming in all of the time, and they've been mentioned by some of you today. I might just get Matt to comment on deposit rates, 'cause that was one of the questions that was specifically put to us in advance of the meeting.
Yeah. As you said, Chair, there is always a lot of interest in the prevailing rates, and clearly rates for both lending as well as deposits are constantly under review. Obviously, changes to the cash rate often sort of crystallize changes in those rates. I think we're very cognizant of the environment. We've obviously been in a very low rate environment for an extended period of time, which has put a lot of pressure on depositors. It's clearly been a better time for those with loans. We certainly seek to provide competitive deposit rates right across the board. We're very conscious of the changes and the pricing decisions that we make.
One example of that would be the term deposit rates that we've been advertising for some months, more recently about 3.75% for 18 months.
As a term deposit special, we've seen a lot of interest in a longer-term rate that's been able to sort of capture a higher deposit rate. Of course, the interest on a product like that can also be paid monthly. It doesn't have to be paid at the end of the term. As you mentioned, Gerard, it has been a topic of questions in advance of the AGM, and I'd say one of the more regular questions that we're asked.
I do have some questions on call wait times, branch closures, and many on climate, but I think they have been asked in the meeting and addressed in the questions. I'll acknowledge the shareholders that sent those through, but I won't address them now. I do have a few questions when we do get to remuneration, which if not addressed, I'll read out. If we go to microphone number two, please.
Chair, I've got Mr. Ron Strauss, shareholder.
Welcome, Mr. Strauss.
Good. Thank you, sir. I'm quite impressed, and I first of all want to acknowledge the quality of Mr. Comyn's speech. Really, there's quality there, and we have to recognize it as shareholders. I'm concerned, and I don't know whether all the board were aware that Robert Gottliebsen spoke about two banks out of the Big Four that were playing games. It just so happens that CBA is one of the people playing games, and ANZ is the other. I'm very glad you just mentioned, sir, about this special rate for 18 months. Because the game is that most people have 12 months term deposits, and it goes into automatic reinvestment. The Commonwealth Bank and the ANZ were playing on these poor people and offering them pittances for the 12 months.
Just very briefly, let me say what Robert Gottliebsen had to say. A warning, a number of banks are playing games to try and maintain their profit margins at the expense of depositors. I'll just quickly hurry up. I urge the chief executives of the banks playing those games to demand that their executives play fair with customers. All of this is quite reasonable. Now the dam wall is broken, it's time to change strategy and secure proper term, proper deposit returns, and banks need depositor funding. It also highlights how successful the bank has been. The Commonwealth Bank is the best bank. There's no question in his article the way he writes it.
He also makes the final comment, if CBA doesn't need to be among the bank depositor game players, it could even provoke a community backlash that will ultimately damage shareholders. For Mr. Comyn, I'd like to know, first of all, are you prepared to tell Angus to stop playing games and be decent on the 12-month term deposits? Finally, I'd like you just to comment, do you think that if you continue to play these games, you might actually damage shareholders?
Thank you very much, Mr. Strauss, for your question. You've raised and it's equivalent to the questions we've got externally, so thank you for that. We have to be competitive. We have to be competitive on our loan rates, and we have to be competitive on our deposit rates. Matt and the team are always assessing that balance. We've come into this through the last few years of the pandemic with the lowest net interest margin the bank's seen in a long time. It wasn't that long ago we were facing negative interest rates on deposits. The economic environment has changed, and interest rates are going up, both on the loan side, but also the deposit side. To your question, never enough. Why not enough?
Why, you know, 18 months rather than 12 months? That's part of the framework that the management team have to look at all of the time. I don't believe they're playing games. I think they're taking their stewardship roles for the banks on behalf of shareholders and customers incredibly seriously. It's an area that they will continue to focus on, and will continue to adjust as the market and interest rates adjust. We might move to microphone number 2, please.
Chair, I've got Mr. Peter Starr, shareholder.
Welcome, Mr. Starr.
Yeah. Welcome, Paul O'Malley. How are you?
I'm doing very well, thank you.
That's good. Just a little note there. I hear Mr. Comyn speaking about security and everything, and when people ring, I happened to take a call from him. It was a private number, but at least he had the decency to say, "That you Mr. Star, is it?" I said, "Well, you're on a private number, so I hope I am talking to you, Matt." He did later correct that with an email to me with his number. Yesterday when I left the Telstra meeting, my phone was running hot about what was gonna happen here today with shareholders that couldn't ask questions. We weren't having a hybrid meeting. I should note that Woolies, the other banks, my understanding, are having hybrid meetings. Telstra ran it very successfully yesterday. I rang Ms.
Mulhern, and to her credit at least, she rang me back. I think she's probably let the board know that my phone was running hot about the issue. I hope the board's listening, paying attention. I think in future you need to have hybrid meetings. People need to be able to speak. Not everybody can get to Melbourne. Not saying the venue is nice. It is nice, but I think it's important for people who can't, they need to be able to speak.
In relation to that. Mr. O'Malley, I know you've only been the Chair eight weeks. I just wanna know, I'm sad to see Ms. Livingstone go, not because I knew her personally, but she was dealing with a number of my issues. I just wanna know, did she pass on the email to you, yes or no?
Mr. Starr, as I've said many times, I'm not going to talk to the personal issues of individual customers. I think that's the best answer that I can provide. I know that you've had many conversations with Matt Comyn in particular. I think just in terms of your personal interaction and engagement with Catherine Livingstone and what Catherine Livingstone does or doesn't do with information, I just can't comment, too.
My question was, did she pass on the email to you?
As I mentioned, I'm not going to talk to specific customer interactions.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Starr. We go to microphone number four.
Chair, I would like to introduce Mr. Kaz Kazim, who is a shareholder.
Welcome, Mr. Kaz Kazim.
Thank you very much. I'm glad that spotlight that blinded me the last time is not here today, which is pleasing. I didn't mean to address this question, but since customer relations has been raised several times, I thought I might bring this question up. I've been a customer for 61 years at the University of New South Wales. I'd like to see the CBA become a model of excellence, and it's making progress, but very slowly. University of New South Wales has 62,000 students enrolled, and Mr. Comyn may have spent some years studying there. I'm not sure whether he had a CBA account then, opened it, or whether he still has account that goes back to the University of New South Wales. Now, that branch was closed.
Despite your mentioning that you are leaders in digital technology, I did not even get a courtesy of an email saying that my branch was closing and where my business could be moved to, who I could talk to and raise these issues. Now you've made much of the progress about rising interest rates, customer loyalty. There have been about 6 or 8 increases in mortgage payments, but only one increase for the customers that make up and contribute to your profits. I had other questions about organizational culture, which is what I came to attend this meeting and ask you about, but I'll ask that a little later, if I may.
You're very welcome, Mr. Kaz Kazim, to ask those follow-up questions in due course. I'll just comment, organizational culture is a fundamental focus of the board, and the Remedial Action Plan following the APRA Prudential Inquiry focused a lot on that cultural transformation. We can come back to that when you ask the following questions. In relation to the closure of the branch at the UNSW, you should have received a notification. What I would like to do, and I have mentioned Group Customer Relations, but I'm going to ask one of those members to find you afterwards and have that conversation.
Yeah.
-if that's possible. I think there was another part of your question, which if you could just remind me what that was, please.
I'm sorry.
Interest rates. In terms of the deposit rates, there've been multiple changes in deposit rates across many different products over the last-
Yes.
Couple of years. I'm not familiar with the comment that there's only been one adjustment, so I'm not sure.
There's just one adjustment to NetBank customers. Why?
I'll get Matt to provide the detail. I do not think that is correct.
Well, as far as I know, I watched it every day and I have a substantial amount in NetBank Saver, and I haven't received any indication that there's likely to be an increase. My loyalty of CBA of 61 years is being wasted, and I'm losing money every single day or every single second that I stay as a loyal customer of Commonwealth Bank, which is not what you would call a fair go.
Mr. Kaz Kazim, I won't talk to your personal experience.
No, I mean, that's fine. I admit that.
I would like to say that I, again, Group Customer Relations will meet with you because our understanding, my understanding, is that NetBank Saver has increased certainly more than once.
Yes.
If there is an issue, we would love to get to the bottom of it and support you with that understanding.
Yeah. I think my broader question is all that flowery language about customer loyalty, maybe contributing to the profits of the Commonwealth Bank just remains flowery. It never seems to translate into action. I think not receiving the courtesy of an email at the closure of a branch, leaving all those staff and students at the University of New South Wales without any notification why this happened, not even the courtesy of an email. Where's your digital advances stand?
Thank you. Thank you again for that perspective. I will get Matt to elaborate and just address that more specifically.
Just very briefly, it's nice to see you again, Mr. Kaz Kazim.
Thank you.
You certainly should have received an email if there's any change to our service at that branch or any others. NetBank Saver certainly has changed multiple times. By all means, we'll get someone from group customer relations. I also have your contact details, as you know, so I'm very happy to follow up with you.
No, no, I mean, I remember the days when you put two shillings into an account, and you had a branch in that roundhouse where the CBA staff member sitting behind a little counter, and you could draw a shilling. I still remember that. My loyalty to the bank remains sound. I'd like to see it become a model of excellence, but I have a few other questions about organizational culture. When can I address them? I'll address them.
Mr. Kaz Kazim, I think, just following the protocols earlier.
Yeah. No, that's fine.
I'd be happy for you to come back, but if we might go to another microphone just to
Yeah, certainly. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for your attendance today. We move to microphone number one.
Chair, I have Mr. Craig Caulfield, shareholder.
Welcome back, Mr. Caulfield.
Actually, I'm not Mr. Caulfield. I'm representing someone else.
Oh.
Just so that you know.
Thank you.
That's one of those people that we're going to ask the question directly themselves.
Sure. Thank you.
This is for. I'm representing here shareholder Rita Mazaleskas. With securitization of a Medallion Trust series, which have been sold in places such as the U.S., Japan, E.U., is it true collateral are portfolios of loans secured by first-ranking mortgages over residential property in Australia originated by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which exposes borrowers to being subjected to severe risks and unfair, non-transparent, illegal actions against them for indefeasibility of title, where borrowers lose their equity and family homes unjustly, where borrowers are denied their right of redemption of the property by wanting to pay out their debt obligation? Now, Ms. Mazaleskas is listening in, and if she has further comment, it will come through on my phone.
Thank you very much.
That's not my question. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Mazaleskas, for your question. I'm actually going to pass this question straight to our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Docherty.
Yeah, sure. Yeah, thank you for the question. We always maintain the full relationship with the customer and the collateralized property for all of our lending activities, so there's no change in the rights that customers have attached to home lending mortgages, regardless of the funding structures that we've put in place. The reference to the Medallion residential mortgage-backed securitization program is a funding program which allows us to use home loan collateral to attract funding rates for the bank, which support lower interest rates for our mortgage customers. There's no change in the customer situation. We retain full rights of serviceability of all of those mortgages.
Thank you for that. I'm not sure if there's any response. I haven't got anything yet, so.
You're welcome to come back when you do.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. If we go to microphone number four.
Chair, I would like to introduce Mr. Morgan Pickett, who is a proxy holder.
Welcome, Mr. Morgan Pickett.
Thank you. I have two questions. In August, Commonwealth Bank participated in a refinancing to Santos, expanding an existing deal related to the Barossa gas project. Can you provide details on how an assessment of the Barossa gas project was conducted with regards to this project's alignment with the Paris Agreement and net-zero emissions by 2050, and where shareholders might find this detail?
Thank you, Mr. Pickett. There's been a lot of conversation about climate, and also, I've mentioned a few times that we won't talk to specific and individual customers. I'm unable to actually address the specific question you've asked. I think generally there has been significant conversation with shareholders about our climate approach.
Okay, thank you. My second question is an easy yes or no question, you'll be glad to hear. Will CommBank still be financing companies that have active plans to expand the scale of thermal coal mining of the thermal coal mining industry?
Commonwealth Bank has a target to be zero lending to thermal coal by 2030, and we have a glide path to get there, and we've been reducing our exposure year on year. That's the specific accurate answer to your question.
The answer's yes?
I've given you the answer. Thank you.
Thank you.
If we move to microphone number one.
Chair, I have Mr. Patrick Gleeson, who is a shareholder.
Welcome, Mr. Gleeson.
Hello. Thank you. I'm really impressed by the quality of the management that we've got in our bank, and I have been in all the banks in Australia, but I'm particularly impressed by the Commonwealth Bank and the way they perform. One thing I wanted to say, with all this focus on environment, and we're spending a lot of money on reports and time and whatever, but I'm just wondering about whether we are. Like, you guys make lots of money, and I'm so grateful for the money that I get as a dividend every year. I really appreciate that. Thanks to my dad, God rest his soul. I just wanna say, are we gonna look after, like, some charities and things? Do you have a forward plan for looking after charities?
You know, we all make lots of money, obscene lots of money out of this bank. There's lots of money flows through, so I wonder whether we're returning some of that to the community. I know NAB does, but what plans have you got going forward for that?
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gleeson, and thank you for your compliment of the team. As a board, we kind of are always looking to the quality of our team, and we also believe that we've got great people, not only on the leadership team, but all through the bank. In relation to your specific question, I think Matt mentioned in his speech that we actually do provide corporate and foundation funding to many, many communities across Australia, basically to support communities through our giving programs. When there are often specific crises, there is a shared giving program whereby both our employees, matched by the bank, will actually support specific initiatives. That's important to us. All of our employees want to be able to demonstrate that they care and to make contributions, and it's an important part of our culture to support that.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you very much. If we move back to microphone number four.
Chair, I would like to introduce Mr. Kaz Kazim, who is a shareholder.
Welcome back, Mr. Kaz Kazim.
Thanks very much. I was going to say, I had a few documents deposited in the University of New South Wales, and because I didn't get any email where those documents are or what's happened and who I contact about things like that. That's the first part. Second part, which is essentially-
Just on that, if I may. The group customer relations person will sit with you or speak with you after the meeting.
Yeah
address all of those customer-specific questions.
Terrific.
They're valid questions, and we're very happy to support you.
Terrific. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
My most important question relates to organizational culture. The Hayne Royal Commission drew attention to a large number of flaws in all banks and Commonwealth Bank in particular. We've paid a lot of money, which is really basically coming out of shareholders' pockets, we're having to meet all that damages, which is fine. Now, I've read over time that the bank is going through organizational change. What I'd like to know is exactly who is undertaking that change. Are we relying on external advice? Are we developing resources from within the bank?
How and what measures are being taken to bring about transformational change that we need to bring it into aligned and alignment with the customer needs, as well as the bank's basic purposes, social purpose and commercial purpose, and its alignment with the community, and that there's profits for both ways, you know, both as the customers as well as to the company. I might say that, Mr. Comyn has been fairly, proactive in promoting in a lot of ways, which I think is very good for a CEO, which I think is good. What I'd like to know is about what, how, and where, and when is this organizational change occurring.
There was one other thing I thought I read in the AFR, that the Commonwealth was withdrawing some of its use of consultants, and that was going to result in a substantial savings. Now, where were the savings going to go towards in progressing organizational change? I couldn't. Unfortunately, I have a digital subscription to the AFR, but I couldn't find that particular article so that I could have been a little more clear on what was mentioned by whom, where, and when, and what savings were being made, and what were those savings being allocated towards the change in organizational culture.
Thank you, Mr. Kazim. The question on organizational culture is incredibly important. I can't comment on the specifics of the AFR article because, like you, I'm not quite sure what was in that article. What I can say to address your question, organizational change has to start from tone from the top, and the APRA Prudential Inquiry called that out. The change started at the board and at the management team. Catherine and Matt, collectively, and with the support of the board and the management team, are to be complimented on a cultural change. Promontory was appointed by APRA to undertake a series of six-monthly reviews of the bank's progress in relation to the Remedial Action Plan coming out of the Prudential Inquiry. Organizational culture, tone from the top, and risk culture were really important aspects of that.
It's from within, it's from the top, but it's independently assessed from the outside. One thing, I know there are many employees watching, many of the team members of CBA watching today, we introduced a few, over the last few years, the should we test. This is to the core of how we also change culture from within, is we've empowered our employees to ask the question, should we? I would note today that so many shareholders are asking the question, should we? As you challenge us about the decisions that are being made and the changes that we're making. The should we test empowers everyone within the bank to ask if what we're doing is the right thing. Even if you can do it, is it the right thing to do? We test how effective the should we test is.
In internal surveys, we're getting significant acknowledgement from our staff that the should we test has been really a positive contribution to culture. Our employees, and Matt mentioned it earlier, are voting in the surveys that employee engagement, how good they feel about working in the bank is at 80%. Some years ago, it was much lower than that. Pride in the bank is running at 90% across employees. Some years ago, it was less than 80%. We test with surveys. We collectively hold ourselves accountable for driving the tone from the top. We've had third-party independent assessments, and they will be ongoing. We're actually encouraging our employees with the should we test to ensure that we're challenged, that we make the right decisions, and we make them all of the time.
Notwithstanding all of that, we can't be complacent because you've only got to come to an annual general meeting.
Mm-hmm
to show that there are still issues. We're far from perfect. We just have to keep working at it, which we will do.
What proportion of your organization change is based from suggestions from the bottom? I think top to bottom is fine. What about bottom to the top?
Mr. Kaz Kazim
Just Morris suffered interminably, you know. I mean, that started the Hayne Royal Commission. I mean, that was a fine example of the top to the bottom, ignoring the bottom, which makes up for all the effort that goes into making the profit for the bank. How and where is this taken into account in the organization? Because from top to bottom is fine. As Mr. Comyn very courageously sat there and made notes when Ian Narev said, "Temper your sense of social justice," I think you should put it in a brass plaque for every staff member to hold as a model of excellence.
I'll take that.
I congratulate him on that courage and
Thank you, Mr. Kaz Kazim. I'll take that as a comment. I think I've answered the question.
Yeah
If I may, I'll move on. After the next two questions, I'm going to move to the next order of business, which still provides plenty of opportunity to ask questions. If we go to microphone number one.
Chair, I'd like to welcome back Mr. Craig Caulfield, who'd like to ask a question on behalf of another shareholder.
I will say thank you and welcome again, Mr. Caulfield, noting that you're asking the question on behalf of another shareholder.
Oh, thank you, Mr. O'Malley. This is not his question, but if I keep doing this, is there a superannuation added to my role? No? Okay. I'll take that as a no. This is from Michael Sanderson, who is a proxy for Jaquie Tabata. He has two questions. His first question is, the renowned heterodox economist and lecturer, Dr. Steve Keen, tweeted the RBA, "Raise interest rates, adding to business costs and contributing to rising prices. They keep doing so, helping drive inflation up, not down. Then eventually borrowers start defaulting, asset prices crash, and so inflation too. The value of housing stock is decreasing and interest rates are increasing, potentially forcing borrowers into default. What is the risk to the CBA does the RBA monetary policy pose?
I'm gonna get Matt to talk to it, but I think the question really highlights the fact that in a high inflation or a rising inflation environment, that the Reserve Bank does try to endeavor to bring that down by raising interest rates, which does cause challenge for many customers. I mentioned earlier that during the pandemic, we demonstrated our ability to engage proactively with customers and support them. We're doing that again today, particularly as was raised earlier, I think by you, about the change from fixed rate customers to variable rate customers. Nothing's changed since we spoke earlier. That active and proactive engagement with customers is fundamentally important to what we need to do. Matt, is there anything that you wanted to add to that?
Just very briefly to add that, I mean, there's a couple of primary mechanisms that obviously influence economic activity. One would be the fiscal side, and we'll be hearing shortly from the federal treasurer on the budget and the outlook. Then the second, of course, is monetary policy, which is what the Reserve Bank oversees. I think, you know, monetary policy, every tool is imperfect, but it's effectively serving its purpose at the moment, which is the economy is, as I said before, beyond full employment. There's, you know, very strong economic conditions, and it's been necessary, certainly in the governor of the Reserve Bank and the board of the Reserve Bank's decision to raise interest rates, specifically to try to deal with rising inflation.
Any increases in the cash rate, of course, over time, and we recognize that it has been, you know, a sustained and quite rapid series of increases in the cash rate. Of course, we anticipate that that will have an impact and is having an impact on some customers. Alongside that, we would say the economy is also performing very strongly. We've seen that in very strong trading conditions across businesses from many parts of the country. I know I was in South Australia recently. Mike, who runs the business bank, was down in Victoria, it's like regional Victoria. I haven't met a business customer recently who isn't performing well.
I think that's sort of consistent with a very strong economy, and it's necessary to increase the cash rate to try to probably slow the pace of the economic activity and also to head off rising inflation.
Well, thank you from Mr. Sanderson for your answer, Mr. Comyn. I've got one further question from Mr. Sanderson. Contrary to public popular perception, the CBA, like other private banks, is a licensed deposit-creating institution, and rather than lend depositors' funds, creates a deposit digitally subject to capital requirements when extending a loan. When CBA forecloses on a defaulting consumer, does it stand to profit rather than lose, providing the bank realize a net sale price that is greater than the cost of liquidation?
I'm sorry. I'm trying to wonder whether Mr. Sanderson may have asked this question to us in 2018 or 2019. It seems quite similar. Maybe there's a couple of elements to it because it sort of. The role of banks, clearly, is to take deposits then to lend funds. We also do create deposits in the system. We expand the money supply when we lend money. To your point, if a loan defaults, no, the financial institution never benefits from that. The loss can materialize in different ways, including an impact to the increase in capital that we have to hold, as well as a specific loss depending on whether the loan is against a secured or unsecured facility.
If it's against the secured facility, obviously, then it depends on what the sale price is of that security and whether that sale is enough to offset the outstanding loan. I hope that helps.
Thank you for Mr. Sanderson.
Thank you. We're going to move now to microphone number four, and then after these questions, we'll move to the next order of business, but there will be plenty of opportunity to keep asking questions. Microphone number four.
Chair, I would like to introduce Mr. Edgar Sakers, who is a shareholder.
Welcome, Mr. Sakers.
Thank you very much. It is cold in here, and I wouldn't mind the 1.5 degrees being pushed up. AUD 75 million lost. I don't know how the government sort of decided that that was a good figure to take off the Commonwealth Bank, but 14 directors, how does the government get past 14 directors to tell them that they were doing something wrong in order to fine the Commonwealth Bank? If I can ask. If you get my drift of what that question
Sure.
actually really means.
I think the first thing is that up on stage we have I think there are ten of us who are directors. We have the group company secretary, the chief financial officer, and Matt's dual-hatted.
It's not quite 14.
That's okay. The specifics of your question, I must say, I'm not quite sure I fully understood. If you wanna just elaborate.
Well, how is it the government knows more about the Commonwealth Bank than the Commonwealth Bank directors did in order to be able to fine you AUD 75 thousand, AUD 75 million?
I think you're relating. The question might be relating to AUSTRAC some years ago. Absolutely, we are a bank.
This is the first chance that we've been able to.
Yeah.
Ask this question.
Welcome, and thank you. We are regulated by many government regulators, including AUSTRAC, which does financial crime, APRA, which is the Prudential Regulation Authority, ACCC, ASIC, and the Reserve Bank. We have and are appropriately subject to significant regulation. From time to time, the regulators, in doing their role, highlight issues that the bank needs to be called to account for, and that is in fact what happens. Post the Royal Commission and the Prudential Inquiry, we have been undertaking substantial reform of the bank, and I mentioned it in my words, again, earlier, led by Catherine and Matt and the remedial action plan to address those systemic changes we had to fix, the cultural issues that have been raised as well, and to make sure that our foundational compliance activities are in good stead.
We are on a journey of renewal, and I think your questioning goes to that point. As I mentioned before, Promontory, the independent auditor, as a result of the Prudential Inquiry, said that we are positively unrecognizable from before the remedial action plan commenced. I think looking forward, we've got a lot of work to do to ensure that we continue to improve and continue that improvement journey.
May I ask, was that the directors' job that we didn't get in that predicament in the first place?
I think there's been a lot of change at the board and the management team, and it's.
What's the ultimate-
Always the directors who are accountable for the performance of the bank.
All right.
which is why we're here today to hear your questions.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. At this point, I'm going to move to the next item on the agenda, item number 2. It relates to my re-election, the re-elections of Genevieve Bell AO and of Mary Padbury, Sorry, the re-elections and the election of Lyn Cobley. The resolutions will be dealt with separately. As item two A relates to my re-election, I will ask Rob Whitfield to chair the meeting for this item.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Paul, and good afternoon, shareholders. The board considers that all directors standing for re-election or election are independent. Each director standing for re-election or election will briefly address the meeting regarding their candidacy. Item 2A is for the re-election of Paul O'Malley, who, in accordance with the bank's constitution, retires himself today as a director and offers himself for re-election. Paul's been a member of the board since January 1, 2019, and chair since August 10, 2022. He's also chair of the Nominations Committee, a member of the Audit Committee, the Risk and Compliance Committee, and the People and Remuneration Committee. The board, with Paul abstaining, recommends the re-election of Paul O'Malley as director. I now invite Paul to address the meeting.
Thank you, Rob, and good morning again, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to take this opportunity to address you in my personal capacity as a candidate for re-election to the board. Shareholders, the details of my executive and director experience are detailed in the notice of meeting. As Rob said, I've been on the CBA board since January of 2019 and was appointed chair this year, eight weeks ago. It's a privilege to have been appointed chair of such an important organization, and I'm looking forward to helping lead this organization through its next strategic growth phase as we continue to strive to provide customer positive outcomes for our customers. I believe that my experience in strategy, stakeholder engagement, and people and culture matters provide a great platform for executing the demands of this important role.
If re-elected today, I'll be honored to continue to lead the board and to contribute to CBA's role in helping to lead in supporting Australia's economic agenda and its transition to a both, a sustainable and a digital economy. Thank you.
Thank you, Paul. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to move to a microphone to ask any questions or make any comments on item 2A. Are there any questions? Microphone three. Microphone four.
Chair, I would like to introduce Mr. Kaz Kazim, who is a shareholder.
I don't mind giving Mr. O'Malley another go. He's put up a fair fight, and I think he's up for the job. I don't mind putting my hand up and saying, "Okay, let's give him a fair go and see how he goes." Thank you.
Thank you for your comments, Mr. Kaz Kazim. I'd now like to move to microphone two.
Yeah, sure. I've got Jason Cole, shareholder. Thank you. Comment rather than question. The ASA would like to congratulate you on your recent appointment, noting your considerable experience in leadership of several significant Australian businesses during periods of economic challenges. We also wish to acknowledge the considerable legacy left by your predecessor, Ms. Catherine Livingstone, who helped steer the bank through a very difficult period for some years and has overseen transformation on a cultural level. We wish her all the best in her retirement from the board of CBA. Thank you both for your transparent, engaged, and open communications with the ASA.
Thank you, Mr. Cole. Thank you for your support for Paul's election today, and thank you for your acknowledgement of Catherine. The board shares your sentiments. Are there any other questions? If there are no further questions, I now put the resolution to the meeting. Details of the direct and proxy votes received prior to the meeting in relation to this item should now be displayed on the screen. Please mark your voting card in relation to item 2A, the re-election of Paul O'Malley. Taking into account the direct and proxy votes shown on the screen, I'm comfortable that item 2A will pass. Thank you, shareholders, and congratulations to Paul. I'll now hand back the meeting to him to chair and move on to item 2B.
Thanks, Rob, and thank you very much, shareholders. I'll do my best. I now move to item two B. Item two B is for the re-election of Genevieve Bell AO, who, in accordance with the bank's constitution, retires as a director and offers herself for re-election. Genevieve has been a member of the board since the first of January 2019 and is a member of the Nominations Committee and the People and Remuneration Committee. The board, with Genevieve abstaining, recommends the re-election of Genevieve Bell AO as a director. I now invite Genevieve to address this meeting.
We'll look at that. Thank you, Chair, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and a special thank you to Mr. Pascoe for welcoming back to a place where I spent many happy years of my childhood as a deep cricket tragic. It's a little bit special to get to be here. I'm a cultural anthropologist with a focus on technology in society and in business. I spent the last 18 years as a full-time member at Intel Corporation in Silicon Valley, and I've been a distinguished professor at the Australian National University since 2017. These social science and technology experiences allow me to bring a distinctive point of view. In my three and a half years as a CBA director, I've sought to contribute insights drawn from the full breadth of my academic and professional experiences.
I believe I offer highly relevant perspectives in the boardroom, drawing from my background, and that this has helped drive constructive conversations in the boardroom. Using and understanding digital technologies and advancements and how they interact with customer experiences will be key to our priorities to building tomorrow's bank today for our customers. I look forward to continuing to use my knowledge and experience to drive better customer outcomes. I seek your support for my re-election as a CBA director for a further term, and I look forward to serving you. Thank you.
Thank you, Genevieve. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to move to a microphone to ask any questions or make comments on this item. Are there any questions? Microphone number 2.
Chair, I want to welcome back Peter Starr, shareholder.
Welcome, Mr. Starr.
Thanks, Mr. O'Malley. I had a question when you were being put up for re-election, but the monitor missed it. I presume you're going to retain the chairmanship now that you've been re-elected?
That is my intention, Mr. Starr.
Good, thank you. It should also be noted that, your predecessor, Ms. Catherine Livingstone, virtually cleaned out the whole board. The previous CBA board before she was appointed chairman in December 2016, 2017, January was described as the most inept, corrupt board that let shareholders down, and what went on at the Royal Commission and all the other things that have followed. It started from the top, from the chairman and from Ian Narev. It was sad to see him dragged, screaming and kicking, by Four Corners, when CommInsure was such a great thing. Then to have the whistleblower blow the whistle on CommInsure and things like that. It's just a terrible thing, Mr.
O'Malley, I hope for the rest of you people who are on the board that lessons have really been learned, and then we're not gonna have our heads in the sand. There's a thing by your own CommSec that was written about customers that I plan to read to you a bit later on, but welcome Genevieve.
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Starr. There being no further questions, I now put the resolution to the meeting. Details of the direct and proxy votes received prior to the meeting in relation to this resolution are displayed on the screen. Please mark your voting card in relation to item two B, Genevieve Bell AO's reelection. I now move to item two C. Item two C is for the reelection of Mary Padbury, who in accordance with the Bank's Constitution, retires as a director and offers herself for reelection. Mary has been a member of the board since 14 June 2016 and is a member of the Nominations Committee and the People and Remuneration Committee. The board, with Mary abstaining, recommends the reelection of Mary Padbury as a director. I now invite Mary to address the meeting.
Thank you, Chair, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I've been privileged to serve as a director for two terms. I'm seeking a third term to continue to contribute as a board member to the critical role CBA plays in our financial system for all our stakeholders. My background is detailed in the notice of meeting, save I've also recently been appointed to the board of the Richmond Football Club Limited. In my past life as a lawyer, I've assisted clients to develop enterprise-wide technology strategies and protect innovation. My time in law firm management and leadership taught me the importance of clarity of purpose, a good culture, stakeholder care, and long-term thinking for sustainable success.
I've also sought to use my analytical skills and objectivity to assess and test the wide range of reporting that comes to the board and navigate the current and prospective regulatory landscape in which the bank operates. As a longer-serving director, I was involved in the lead up to and Remedial Action Plan to address the lessons of the Prudential Inquiry and the Royal Commission, and I'm seized of the importance of CBA's stronger culture of accountability and governance being maintained. I'd be honored to continue to serve you as a director if supported. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mary. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to move to a microphone to ask any questions or make comments on this item. Microphone number one.
Chair, I present Mr. Craig Caulfield, shareholder.
I don't want to be presumptive, Mr. Caulfield. Is this for yourself or on behalf of someone else?
This time, I am representing me.
Welcome, Mr. Caulfield.
Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Padbury. I've got some general questions that could have been asked in the last, but I'm actually quite interested in how directors view some of these questions. So there's a series of a few comments here. The APRA Remedial Action Plan, the bank's completed it, and the independent assessor commentary has agreed to all of the things being ticked off. There was a reserve capital fund that APRA had set aside pending completion of those and CBA requesting that. Has CBA requested those funds from APRA to be released, the capital reserve? And has that been received?
The answer, Mr. Caulfield, is yes. It was done in two parts. Some time ago, the APRA released half of the capital that was required to be put aside because of the Prudential Inquiry. That was AUD half a billion dollars. I think it was last week or the week before, they released the other AUD half a billion dollars. What that signals is that APRA believes that our commitments under the Remedial Action Plan were met, independently assessed, agreed to by APRA, and the capital was released. Our focus now is to continue to make sure that focus on culture and capability continues.
Thank you for that. Well, on that track, I want to give an idea of how things get missed. Perhaps you all might be interested, but Mr. Comyn in particular, during my 10-year complaints dispute with the bank, no one has ever mentioned the referrals that I gave to the bank. Moira and I had a business, Fifth Avenue Collection. We referred 40 businesses who all took up Albert EFTPOS machines, and they were actually quite brilliant. My bank was ANZ. I asked ANZ if they could do it. I compared Commonwealth Bank's, you know, their IT with ANZ's, and I found that Commonwealth Bank had better IT, in our opinion, and a better rate. I asked ANZ to match it, and they wouldn't.
By getting one, we then referred 40 other people that was downstream in our business. Now, those people may have gone on and got houses and different things, et cetera. But no one's ever mentioned that to me, if someone's investigating my case to see how have I been treated, that's never been raised. I just don't know why how that could get missed. That comes back to a previous one I said before, which was doubt, maintain doubt. When you're looking at care and those type of things, keep doubting your mind. Keep doubt that it's like, yes, you've ticked a lot of boxes and done a lot with this Remedial Action Plan, but there are still failures occurring now. While you talk of a better future for all, it's not a better future for all.
It is a better future for some. There's people in the room today, Mr. Cripps, three of his houses are being repossessed. Now, he didn't miss a payment on his loans. There are other factors surrounding it. Three of his houses are being repossessed, and they've been family homes. His brother. I actually went to one of the houses and stayed overnight with him. He is a friend of mine, and he's a carer for his brother, Hilton, and he's a disabled person. Anyway, I'm very sad about it. I don't understand the case fully. Obviously, there are other things to do with it. I think when I talked about the emotional consequences before from what I've been through, and I know what Mr.
Mr. Cripps's going through and his family's going through, something's wrong if someone doesn't, if someone is not behind in the payments, and there are, like, non-financial default losses. You say you work with people, but this needs to be re-looked at. Something might be missing. You missed saying, "Thank you, Mr. Caulfield, you've sent 40 businesses to us." Something else might be missing there.
Thank you, Mr. Caulfield.
Thank you.
I can't comment on individual circumstances, but we absolutely take on board your comments about well-being and acknowledgement of support. Thank you.
Mm-hmm.
I might move on now if I may. You're gonna get further opportunity. If I can move on to the next item. I put the resolution to the meeting for the re-election of Mary Padbury. The details of the direct and proxy votes are received prior to the meeting in relation to this resolution are displayed on the screen. Please mark your voting card in relation to item 2C, Mary Padbury's re-election. Item 2D is for the election of Lyn Cobley, who, in accordance with the bank's constitution, offers herself for election. Lyn has been a member of the board since the first of October 2022. The board, with Lyn abstaining, recommends the election of Lyn Cobley as a director. I now invite Lyn to address the meeting.
Thank you, Chair, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen or good afternoon. It's very exciting to be with you today as your most recently appointed director. While I've only attended one set of board meetings following my first of October appointment, I can already tell how committed this board is to CBA's purpose of building a brighter future for all. That is why I'm honored to put myself forward for election to the CBA board. I am an experienced banking and financial services professional, and with over 30 years experience and have enjoyed roles at Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank a little while ago, Barclays Capital and Citibank.
In your time at Commonwealth Bank, I was your group treasurer all throughout the GFC, which provided an extraordinary opportunity to understand the place of CBA in the international and domestic capital markets, as well as work closely with regulators, the RBA and government during a period of prolonged global financial stress. These roles also provided me with experience in strategy, transformation, technology, leadership, and navigating complexity in regulated industries, both when things are going well and when they aren't. I also have experience with sustainability in this sector and recognize that there will be both challenges and opportunities ahead of us as we play our part in creating a sustainable future.
I am passionate about the important role banks play in the country's economic and growth and prosperity, and believe my background equips me well to grapple with the challenges that both CBA and the Australia and New Zealand economies may face over the medium term. I can think of no more important contribution I can make than to serve our customers, our people, our shareholders, and communities through playing an active role as a member of your board. With your support, I look forward to joining the Commonwealth Bank board. Thank you.
Thank you, Lyn. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to move to a microphone to ask any questions or make comments on this item. Microphone number 2.
Chair, I've got Mr. Peter Starr, shareholder.
Welcome, Mr. Starr.
Thanks, Mr. O'Malley. Can you just clarify that Lyn Cobley worked for the bank and is now seeking appointment to the board or re-election to the board?
Yes, Mr. Starr. Lyn is an independent nominee for the board and did work for the bank some time ago, including during the Global Financial Crisis. That is correct.
One other question. How long were you at Westpac for?
Lyn spent some time at Westpac along with her other career activities. In terms of the period of time, I think it was 3 or 4 years, maybe a bit longer. 5 years. Yep.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Star. Back to microphone number two.
Chair, I'd like to welcome back, Mr. Jason Cole.
Welcome, Mr. Cole.
Thank you. So the ASA notes the recent appointment of Ms. Cobley as a director of the bank and the resolution seeking her election to the board. We acknowledge her significant banking experience and understand that she's held in high regard within the banking industry. We thank the chairman for the opportunity of discussing Ms. Cobley's appointment with him prior to this meeting, given Ms. Cobley's tenure coincided with the Westpac AUSTRAC investigations into unreported foreign banking transactions. The ASA will be voting undirected proxies in her favor. However, some of our members may still hold concerns about this appointment and we would appreciate an opportunity to hear from you on this matter.
Thank you, Mr. Cole, and thank you for the opportunity again to talk to the Australian Shareholders' Association. Lyn was appointed on the first of October. She satisfied all of the necessary regulatory requirements to the appointment. We do have the ASX filings going into play, but we have undertaken appropriate reference and due diligence checks on all of our directors for reappointment, including Lyn, and are very satisfied that all of the directors today up for re-election or appointment in Lyn's case, are great contributors and will be great contributors to the board for the benefit of our shareholders, our customers, and our staff. Thank you. I now put the resolution to the meeting. Details of the direct and proxy votes received prior to the meeting in relation to this resolution are displayed on screen.
Please mark your voting card in relation to item 2D, Lyn Cobley's election. The next item on the agenda is item 3, the resolution to adopt the bank's remuneration report for the financial year ended 30 June 2022. In accordance with the Corporations Act, the vote on this resolution is advisory only. The remuneration report is included in the bank's 2022 annual report, which is available on our website, and some hard copies are also available here today. The group has performed strongly during the 2022 financial year against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, including rising interest rates and inflation. We're guided by our values of care, courage, and commitment to support Australian families, individuals, and businesses through the disruption of the pandemic and natural disasters.
Our executive remuneration framework is made up of four components, fixed remuneration, short-term variable remuneration, STVR, long-term alignment remuneration, LTAR, and long-term variable remuneration, LTVR. Together, these elements are designed to provide market competitive remuneration, rewarding sustainable financial and non-financial performance and shareholder value creation over the longer term. Executive STVR outcomes are determined through an assessment of performance across a balanced scorecard of critical areas, being shareholder, customer, leadership, and strategy, which are indicators of sustainable shareholder value and an overarching assessment of risk, reputation, and values. Our financial performance for the 2022 financial year reflects above target financial performance consisting of cash net profit after tax and profit after capital charge. Our performance in the areas of customer leadership and strategy have been similarly strong with our reputation score remaining high.
Our non-financial performance supports alignment with shareholders' interests, including environmental and social matters, as we advance our strategic priorities to create sustainable shareholder value and strong outcomes for our customers and our people. Over the last four years, we've successfully delivered our Remedial Action Plan, including the transition period. We've enhanced our performance and remuneration framework and made improvements to our governance, culture, and accountability to deliver better customer and risk outcomes. We will now be focusing on sustaining the changes that we've made and building on our simpler, better foundation in the coming years. The board has environmental and social E&S priorities, which are integral to our purpose and aligned to our strategy. Overall, these factors, along with the positive contribution from each member of the executive leadership team, have contributed in determining this year's executive remuneration outcomes.
I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to move to a microphone to ask any questions or make any comments. Just while that is happening, I am going to read out one remuneration question that's been received externally from Mr. Reese and Mrs. Reese. Can the board please explain why it is reasonable for the CEO to get a 30% increase in his remuneration package for the last financial year, when most of the many thousands of employees have been forced to endure a wage cut once inflation is taken into account of at least 4%? The increase to the CEO's overall remuneration relates to both the performance of the bank over the past year and increase to the CEO's fixed remuneration, the STVR outcome, and the long-term variable component that relates to the past four years awarded back in 2019.
The positive vesting for the LTVR recognizes strong shareholder returns over that period relative to comparative peer organizations and continued progress in rebuilding CBA's reputation and trust. For FY 22, the CEO received an increase to his fixed remuneration of 8.7%. The board was of the view that his base compensation was out of touch with his peers, and we made that adjustment. The fixed remuneration component had not been increased since he was appointed CEO in 2018. Other than the adjustment to reflect that executive remuneration framework pay mix, which we made back in 2020. Following a review of the remuneration arrangements, the board determined that that was appropriate, and the performance in the STVR has been outstanding.
I would just acknowledge that the performance of the management team over the past 12 months through and following the pandemic has really been quite outstanding, and the values and behaviors that they've exhibited is something that we have been incredibly impressed by. I now actually ask for further questions. Microphone number 1.
Chair, I welcome back Mr. Craig Caulfield, shareholder.
Mr. Caulfield, welcome back.
Thank you. In terms of the total rem, I'm not raising any issues with total rem, but the breakup of the rem between fixed and short-term and long-term, I'm not a fan of the short-term rem. I would rather see a higher fixed base REM, keep long-term variable REM in. I think the short-term REM, not looking at anyone in particular, but can be gamed. I think the stats and the numbers and the different things, and I'm using that through my experiences, my 10 years of very deep experiences in working with the bank. With SpeakUP, which is just, you know, like a disgrace within the bank. The Net Promoter Score, I mean, that is just a furphy.
If I put one foot in boiling water and I put the other foot in freezing water, ladies and gentlemen, we've got a Net Promoter Score. We're tepid. Everything's good, climate's good here. It doesn't allow for the extremities. You need to look at something that talks about customer satisfaction on some more sophisticated levels for the largest company in Australia than Net Promoter Score. That needs to be ditched. That's it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Caulfield, for your comments. If I go to microphone number four.
Chair, I'd like to welcome back Mr. Kaz Kazim, who is a shareholder.
Welcome back, Mr. Kaz Kazim.
Thank you very much. I've, courtesy of a newshound, been able to find the article which cited that CBA was cutting spending on consulting and contracting. Now, my question is, the REM report is fine. I mean, your staff are working hard, and I acknowledge that. What I'd like to know is the savings made from a reduction in the consulting work, where is that funding going to? Is any of that being addressed to the workers at the lower levels? And how and in what form encouraging education, development, their contribution, rewards, how is that going on? And that is a critical part of the organizational culture and change if the bank is to remain on a stable path of progress in the right direction.
I think it's important that customer satisfaction is fine, but staff satisfaction in terms of being rewarded for the hard work they undertake every day on the coalface, in many cases of hostile behavior from the customers, I think in what form is that being rewarded? That's what I'd like to know.
Thank you, Mr. Kaz Kazim. I think in relation to contractors, we have an incredible spend base, and we invest what we need to in various areas from time to time. I think a report on one aspect of spend versus another in the press is not the way we manage the company. We invest where we need to. The bit that I pick up out of your question I'd just like to elaborate on is training. Training our staff, giving them a career profile, paying them well, is actually a fundamental aspect of what we need to do. There's an incredible competition for good people in Australia today, and CBA is a good employer. CBA is able to attract good talent, but we cannot take that for granted. We focus on that areas that you've highlighted, Mr. Kaz Kazim.
Good. Okay. I just wanted an example of some of the ways that things have changed and that staff is getting a better and a fairer go of since.
I think that the best example is the improvement in engagement scores that I spoke to earlier of 80%. That is the staff judging how they feel about their role in the bank, and that's probably the best indicator that I can give you today.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Microphone number two.
Chair, I'd like to welcome back Mr. Peter Starr, shareholder.
Welcome back, Mr. Starr.
Thanks, Mr. O'Malley. CBA has a goal to build Australia's leading business bank. Its strategy is centered around the quality of its customer relations and being their main financial institution. According to CommSec, CBA is predicted to pay an annual dividend per share of AUD 4.19 in FY23. That would be an increase of 8.8% compared to FY22. It's a direct quote from CommSec. My question, anything to do with remuneration to the CEO, should be on the satisfaction of legacy cases that the bank still needs to deal with and is willing to deal with and outcomes to the customer that's a win-win for both the bank and the customer.
Thank you, Mr. Starr. I'm not going to specifically focus again on individual customer complaints. Sometimes complaints are actually addressed independently, and we can't do much more than that. I think your point about customer engagement is a critical part of it, and we will continue to focus in that regard.
Well, I think it's very critical, Mr. O'Malley-
Thank you.
to engage in it.
Thank you very much. I'm now going to put the resolution to the meeting on the remuneration report. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of item three. On the screen are the details of the direct and proxy votes received prior to the meeting in relation to this resolution. Please mark your voting card in relation to item three, adoption of the 2022 Remuneration Report. Item four is a resolution for the grant of securities to the CEO, Matt Comyn. The company is proposing to grant to Mr. Comyn, under the company's employee equity plan, 19,032 restricted share units as his 2023 financial year long-term alignment remuneration and 19,032 performance rights as his 2023 financial year long-term variable remuneration.
These units and rights are the elements of the CEO's remuneration that support a focus on long-term performance, leadership and strategy execution, and provide sustainable long-term shareholder alignment. These grants will be in the form of restricted share units for the LTAR and performance rights for the LTVR. The CEO's LTAR awards are subject to a pre-grant assessment by the board, and the board approved the full grant of restricted share units. As a result, if shareholders approve this item today, Matt will be granted 19,032 restricted share units. These units will be granted in two tranches, with 50% restricted for four years to 30 June 2026, and 50% restricted for five years to 30 June 2027. Matt will only receive value from this grant after the restriction period, subject to the pre-vest assessment and following the board's risk review.
The restriction period provides long-term alignment of the CEO's remuneration outcomes to your interests and our shareholders. Sorry, your interests as our shareholders. The LTVR performance rights will be subject to performance measures over the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2026. These measures are described in detail in the notice of the meeting. In summary, 50% of the award is subject to a relative total shareholder return measure compared to a peer group of the 20 largest companies by market capitalization on the ASX at 1 July 2022, excluding CBA and resources companies. Fifty percent of the award is subject to a relative total shareholder return measure compared to a financial services peer group. Following the end of the four-year performance period, the performance measures will be tested and the number of performance rights that remain eligible for vesting will be determined.
Any performance rights remaining on foot after the test will be subject to a further holding period of 2 years to 30 June 2028. Matt has long-term alignment in place. Vesting of the restricted share units and performance rights following the end of the restriction period and holding period, respectively, will be subject to malus consideration. This is consideration of whether there have been any serious or material matters and may lead to the board reducing the awards, including to nil prior to vesting. If they vest, the awards are also subject to clawback. This ensures that the outcomes appropriately consider risk, accountabilities, and reputation outcomes. Restricted share units and performance rights do not carry any voting rights.
As part of the approach to the alignment with shareholder experience, Matt will receive dividend equivalent payments in respect to the restricted share units and those performance rights that ultimately vest, but only in relation to the restriction period or holding period. Matt will not receive any value for franking credits. Full details are outlined in the notice of meeting. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to move to a microphone to ask any questions or make comments on this item. Let's go to microphone one.
Chair, I'd like to welcome back Mr. Craig Caulfield, shareholder.
Welcome back, Mr. Caulfield.
Thank you very much. You did say that we could raise other questions later, so might not be entirely in alignment here, but they're very quick ones. One is, will you be providing a transcript of today's meeting?
We do not provide a transcript of today's meeting. It is webcast, and for those here, you've had the opportunity to hear everything we've said.
Can I make a suggestion that in the interest of, you know, openness, disclosure, the words that I read throughout the annual report, other companies do that. For example, Crown Casino. You know, they do transcripts of their annual general meeting so that we can see it later.
We will take all suggestions today received.
Thank you.
in advisement, but I won't make the commitment, but I will acknowledge.
Well, thank you for listening.
the comment.
Yeah. The second item was regarding directors. I would like to particularly thank the Commonwealth directors, who after each AGM, you know, frequent tea and scones and circulate with shareholders. It's interesting contrasting it with the ANZ AGM, where for five years no shareholders have been able to meet any director. Now, of course, we've had COVID in amongst that, but they do a very quick runner. I'm hopeful that we are able to meet you again today and along with executives as well. I think that's a sign of openness as well.
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Caulfield.
That's all. Thanks very much.
Thank you. I now put the resolution to the meeting and note that the board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of item 4. Details of the direct and proxy votes received prior to the meeting in relation to this resolution are displayed on the screen. Please mark your voting card in relation to item 4, the grant of securities to Matt Comyn. I'll now move to item 5, which incorporates two resolutions requisitioned by a group of shareholders led by Market Forces. The resolutions were proposed under Section 249N of the Corporations Act and are set out in the notice of meeting at items 5A and 5B. Resolution 5A seeks an amendment to the company's constitution to enable shareholders to put advisory resolutions relating to material risks identified by the directors or the company to the meeting.
Advisory resolutions are not binding, but instead express an opinion or request information such as the resolution proposed in item B. Item 5A requires a special resolution to be passed. That is, it must be passed by at least 75% of the votes cast by shareholders entitled to vote on the resolution. Resolution 5B is a contingent advisory resolution that will only be put to the meeting if resolution 5A is passed by shareholders. I would like to confirm that the board respects the rights of shareholders to propose changes to the constitution. However, we do not consider that the changes to the constitution proposed by item 5A to allow advisory resolutions is in the best interest of all shareholders. The board has therefore recommended that shareholders vote against item 5A.
The board is responsible for making decisions that are in the company's best interests. The proposed constitutional change would provide a platform for groups of shareholders to promote any number of matters that may not be in the best interest of the company and shareholders as a whole. Particularly in circumstances where the board and management have invested a significant amount of time to evaluate risks and form a considered view of the company's best interests. The board also considers that it would be inappropriate for any one issue promoted by shareholders to be given increased prominence over another. As Ivan mentioned, item 5 B is an advisory resolution. It requests that the company disclose in subsequent annual reporting information demonstrating how the company's financing will not be used for the purposes of new or expanded fossil fuel projects.
We're committed to playing a leadership role in Australia's transition to a net zero emissions economy by 2050. Our 2022 climate report outlines our approach to supporting Australia's transition and demonstrates our progress. We've set financed emissions targets for priority sectors, including fossil fuels. Our targets are consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. We're committed as an organization to continuing to play our role in supporting Australia's transition to a modern, resilient, and sustainable economy. As outlined in the notice of meeting, the board recommends that shareholders vote against both items 5A and 5B. I would now like to give Mr. Pablo Brait from Market Forces, which put forward the resolutions on behalf of a group of shareholders, an opportunity to address the meeting. Welcome, Mr. Brait.
Thank you, chairman, and the board, and greetings to my patient and charming fellow shareholders. This resolution was filed on behalf of hundreds of shareholders concerned for the security, not just of their investment in our bank, but far more importantly, the security of the world that we inhabit. The resolution itself is one of the simplest and easiest to justify that we at Market Forces have ever been involved with. It does not ask the bank to pull all finance out of activities that produce greenhouse pollution. It does not require the bank to lead the way in driving emissions to net zero in the next decade, reasonable as this request may be. All this resolution asks is that the bank demonstrates how it is not making the crisis of climate change any worse via financing additional and expansionary fossil fuel projects.
As I mentioned in my question earlier, the International Energy Agency has made clear that there is no room to expand fossil fuels if we're to meet the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. Itself, an outcome that gives humanity a coin toss chance of containing global warming. Yet our company is actively involved in financing companies and projects that increase the scale of the fossil fuel industry, violating the IEA's conclusions, as well as our company's own commitments to the Paris Agreement of 1.5 degrees. A case in point previously mentioned, CBA took part in a $1 billion loan to Santos this August, refinancing and extending a 2020 deal related to the new Barossa gas field. This project is so emissions intensive, one economist has described it as a CO2 emissions factory with an LNG by-product.
Over the five years since the Paris Agreement was signed, this bank has loaned over AUD 3 billion to new or expanded fossil coal, oil, and gas projects. Over their lifetime, these projects enable 5.8 billion tons of CO2, equivalent to 12 x Australia's 2020 greenhouse gas emissions. Our policies fail to unequivocally rule out finance to new oil and gas projects, and the notion of giving companies another three years before they need to produce transition plans is preposterous. As the next three years is when companies in Australia and overseas will be attempting to lock in new fossil fuel infrastructure that will worsen climate change for decades to come. Again, all this resolution asks is for the bank to demonstrate how it is not making the problem any worse than it already is.
If not for the sake of the wider community, then how about for the bank's own sake? To describe our companies on the front lines of climate change would be an insult to the hundreds of thousands of people in Australia impacted each year by extreme weather events, increasing in severity and frequency as the climate heats up. This is to say nothing of the loss of life and livelihood taking place around the world. It is true to say that as climate change impacts worsen, this will, and arguably already is, impact on our balance sheet. As an institution exposed across virtually the entire Australian economy, CBA should be extremely concerned about the financial impacts of physical, transitional, legal, and reputational climate risks, which inevitably will be borne by shareholders.
In May 2022, Climate Council study found one in 25 Australian homes would be uninsurable by the year 2030. CBA has itself drawn attention to climate risks in agriculture, reporting in 2019 that grain growing regions risk productivity declines of up to 50% below 2018 baseline by 2060, attributed to changes in rainfall. Our exposure to these sectors and other sectors means CBA is itself highly exposed to climate impacts. Why on earth would this company continue to exacerbate any of these risks further? For the board and executive of a company so widely exposed to physical and transitional climate risks, to be willing to worsen the problem by enabling fossil fuel expansion amounts to our company shooting itself in the foot. It needs to end. Thank you.
Thank you, Pablo. I would like to acknowledge the engagement from Market Forces in the lead-up to the AGM. While we respectfully oppose the resolutions proposed, we share your focus on this important issue. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to move to a microphone to ask any questions or make any comments. The vote on these items is conducted separately, and item 5B is a contingent resolution that only will be put to the meeting if item 5A passes. I'll now move to the first question. I now put resolution 5A to the meeting. This resolution is not supported or endorsed by the board. Details of the direct and proxy votes received prior to the meeting in relation to item 5A are displayed on the screen. Please mark your voting card in relation to item 5A, amendment to the constitution.
As I explained before, item five A requires a special resolution to be passed. That is, it must be passed by at least 75% of the votes cast by shareholders entitled to vote on the resolution. Taking into account the direct and proxy votes shown on the screen, it is not possible that item five A will pass. As this resolution will not pass, I will not proceed with putting item five B to the meeting. That concludes the final item of business on today's agenda. Please complete your yellow voting card and place it in one of the ballot boxes that representatives of Link Market Services are now holding or that are near the exits. If you need any assistance with completing your voting card, Link representatives are available in the room to assist you.
As mentioned previously, the results of the poll will be released on the ASX and made available on the bank's website later today. I declare that the poll will close 15 minutes after the meeting closes. Thank you very much for your attendance today and for your continued support of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. I encourage you to provide us with your feedback on your experience today, and we've received much of that already, thank you, by contacting us via the Investor Centre on our website. Before we finish today, I would like to thank Shirish Apte for his service as a non-executive director of CBA. Shirish has made a considerable contribution to the bank over more than 8 years as a director. Shirish's financial services experience has been invaluable to CBA, particularly in relation to the board's decision-making on strategy and operational risk.
I'll personally miss Shirish's presence around the board table and on behalf of all directors and shareholders and the management team, wish you the best for the future. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your participation today, and I now declare the meeting closed subject to finalization of the poll.