Banking News

Business lending steady: CBA

(23 May 2016 – Australia) According to an article in The Australian, Commonwealth Bank’s (CBA) business banking boss Adam Bennett says the Dollar’s rally over the last three months has not dampened borrowing appetite from businesses due to low rates.

Bennett said there was no direct correlation between the movements in the Australian dollar and business lending. He added that although the bank’s Queensland and Western Australian business loan books were relatively weak, the overall quality of the book was “very, very sound”.

He also acknowledged Budget measures aimed at companies, but said the current focus on tech startups as the backbone of innovation in Australia needed to the broadened to drive improvement across all businesses.

“We were pleased to see in the budget a focus on the business sector and on stimulatory measures that would really promote favourable conditions across small and medium-sized businesses,” Bennett told The Australian.

“The tax cuts, the asset write-off criteria extension have all been very favourably received around Australia.”

“To create sustainable growth in the economy, I think it’s important both to balance short-term measures, which are still very positive, with the broader-view outlook for the economy and the measures that can be taken that drive confidence in businesses across the country,”

Bennett said the startup sector was a very important part of the country’s innovation agenda. “But it’s by no means the entire story,” he said.

“It’s absolutely critical that all businesses of all sizes across all industries and sectors see innovation as something that is within their reach and important to their success.”

Bennett’s comments were made at the banks Innovation Lab ‘pop-up”, a smaller version of the flagship lab in Sydney, allows the bank’s clients to workshop ideas in a space rich with data.

According to the bank, it controls around 40 percent of transactions in Australia, data which the lab then packages and presents to its clients in an interactive format.

As a results, clients can analyse that data to track how much a consumer from a particular postcode spends on groceries or restaurants, and see when they make their purchases.

“The innovation approaches that have served businesses well in the past will be insufficient to meet the realities of the future,” Bennett said.