Yahoo Finance CBA staff lash out over CEO's $10.4 million pay packet
CBA posted record profits of $10.2 billion, up 6 per cent from last financial year.
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) CEO Matt Comyn has been slammed during a staff town hall, after the nation’s biggest bank posted record profits this week.
Comyn received a staggering $10.42 million pay packet in the year to June, an increase from the nearly $6.97 million reported the previous financial year.
And some Aussie staff weren’t happy about it. Messages leaked to the popular The Aussie Corporate Instagram account showed one staff member asking the following question at an online town hall meeting.
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“According to The Australian Financial Review, your take-home pay increased by almost 50 per cent,” the staff member wrote.
“Why are you entitled to this large increase while the rest of us get short-changed to a maximum of 5.25 per cent?”
Staff getting ‘pay cut’
CBA is currently in ongoing negotiations with the Finance Sector Union (FSU) for a new CBA enterprise agreement (EA).
It is currently offering pay rises of up to 5.25 per cent for eligible employees in the first year, totalling 12.75 per cent across three years. This would be below pay proposals of NAB but higher than those at ANZ.
This week, CBA posted record profits of $10.2 billion, up 6 per cent from last financial year, as rising interest rates increased its margins.
FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said the major bank’s record profit “very obviously” showed it could “afford to pay more” to staff.
“Their proposed pay rise would be a pay cut in real terms, given inflation,” Angrisano said.
“The finance industry would expect the CBA to provide industry-leading wage increases given their industry-leading profits.”
In a statement to Yahoo Finance, a CBA spokesperson said the pay increases were “in line with EA deals offered across the industry”.
Outgoing Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe also addressed CBA’s record profit when facing the house economics committee today.
"I can only encourage people who are worried about this issue to shop around and seek a better deal because there are deposit products out there at the moment that offer full transaction services that will pay you an interest rate of 5 per cent or, in some cases, more," Lowe said.
"So, if you don't like the fact that banks are earning so much money, then I encourage you to shop around and make them work harder for your money.”
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