4 questions lodged at 2026 CBA hybrid AGM

Q1. CBA has been News Corp's main Australian bank for decades. The Australian reported on August 21 that our CEO is in a "relationship of sorts" with News Corp journalist Laura Jayes. In light of this, what is the board doing to provide oversight on any dealings between CBA management and News Corp, such as the recent nationwide housing affordability campaign in the News Corp newspapers that was sponsored by CBA. How are we managing the optics of this delicate situation and does the chair have any comment on the recent media?

Answer: Chair Paul O'Malley handled this well getting on the front foot saying that CEO Matt Comyn was a great man, doing a terrific job for the bank and the county and, after declaring there was no conflict, he moved on to the next question. Kudos to CBA, through question wrangler Helen Dalley, for not censoring this question. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q2. Did any of the 5 main proxy advisers in Australia - ACSI, Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis, ISS and ASA - recommend a vote against the board's recommendations on any of today's 7 resolutions, including this remuneration report item? If so, what reasons did they give and did this translate into any material protest votes? Whilst the actual reports from most of these groups (excluding ASA) are confidential, the for and against recommendations are not and it is standard for companies to be across this detail on the voting recommendations and inform shareholders when asked?

Answer: Very poor effort by CBA chair Paul O'Malley. He withheld disclosure, gave no insight and confused proxy advisers with “proxy holders”, whatever they are. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q3. At the 2023 AGM, I asked CEO Matt Comyn to summarise his past LTI grants as to whether they have vested or lapsed since he became a senior CBA executive. The chair monopolised the response, so let's try again with the CEO speaking for himself this time, especially in light of recent substantial share sales. Could Matt please summarise his share ownership history at CBA, including LTI vesting and on-market trades. Please don't say look it up in the annual report and through ASX announcements. It's complicated and our extremely numerate CEO could factually summarise the situation in 60 seconds, as many other CEOs have done when asked this question.

Answer: This was the first time have ever had a chair read a detailed script setting out the LTI vesting history of the CEO, but he was silent on well over $10 million of share sales. Team CBA clearly decided they didn't want CEO Matt Comyn talking about his chunky recent share sales which “the press” have speculated were to do with a divorce settlement. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q4. You are a long way short of AGM best practice. The proxies were not disclosed early to the ASX with the formal addresses, there is no live online voting and you've never disclosed the headcount data as many other companies now do. How many shareholders voted by proxy on this proposed constitutional amendment and, if it was less than 2%, what sort of communication campaign did you run to get out the vote today? Also, has there been a material protest vote against the board's recommendations on these two hostile shareholder resolutions and how many shareholders attended in person today?

Answer: Not asked.

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