CBA warns but keeps dividend

Wednesday 13 May 2020

CBA out with its update:

So, profits down 23%. It’s sold Colonial First State to KKR. NIM down despite big deposit flows. Provisions up solidly but not enough. Capital not strong at 10.7% but it’s in line with the other banks so I guess that’s why it has been allowed to continue the dividend. That said, $13bn in forbearance loans is manageable in a portfolio of $1tr of assets.

The bank is clearly outperforming its peers but it simply can’t answer the question being posed by the COVID-19 economy.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.