CBA Reveals Another Disposal
The exit by Australian banks from wealth and asset management shows no sign of slowing down. Commonwealth Bank of Australia is offloading another piece of its business.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, or CBA, will list its asset management business, the bank said in a statement. Analysts predict the move could raise as much as A$4 billion ($3.1 billion) for CBA, Australia's biggest bank.
The move by the Sydney-based bank is the first major decision taken under the stewardship of new CEO Matt Comyn, who took over following a money laundering scandal earlier this month.
It is also the latest in a series of disposals: in September, CBA sold its Australian and New Zealand life insurance businesses to AIA Group for $3.8 billion.
Wealth Exit
CBA's latest decision follows a spate of divestments by Australia's leading banks pruning their traditional banking business models and exiting sectors and markets not aligned to their new strategies.
Under CEO Andrew Thorburn, National Australia Bank has been disposing of poorly performing or non-core businesses, especially outside Australia.
NAB sold of its private wealth business in Singapore and Hong Kong to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation or OCBC). The deal mirrored the move by fellow Australian lender ANZ, which sold its Asian wealth units to Singapore's DBS.
