Commonwealth Bank of Australia will spin off its wealth management units and review its general insurance business to focus on its core banking activities.
Sydney-based Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) plans to divest its wealth management businesses, CFS Group, and to focus on core banking services instead, CEO Matt Comyn said according to the transcript of a video interview published on the bank's website on Monday. The move will simplify the bank's corporate structure an mirrors similar decisions by other Australian companies.
CBA recently agreed to pay A$700 million ($516.6 million) to put a money-laundering scandal behind it. CFS Group will include Colonial First State, Colonial First State Global Asset Management, Count Financial, Financial Wisdom and Aussie Home Loans.
Minimalist Banking
The CBA chief has also launched a strategic review of the bank's general insurance business, which would include considering a potential sale of the business and partnership with an insurance specialist.
In 2017, CBA sold its CommInsure and Sovereign to AIA Group for $3.8 billion. That sale included a 20-year bancassurance partnership with AIA for the provision of life insurance products to customers in Australia and New Zealand.
The new strategy of CBA follows a similar plan rolled out by ANZ boss Shayne Elliott. Under Elliott's tenure, ANZ has sold its life insurance business to Zurich, divested its OnePath superannuation and investments units and sold the Asian wealth businesses to DBS.
