Commbank’s strong March quarter



The Commonwealth Bank has confirmed the strong start it has made to 2013, with a March quarter trading update revealing a statutory net profit of $1.9 billion and wealth management making a solid contribution.
The March quarter update, released on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), stated that revenue growth continued to reflect a combination of conservative business settings and modest system growth.
Dealing with divisional performance, the update said wealth management and insurance funds under administration and funds under management had each grown by 4 per cent in the quarter, benefiting from strong investment performance as global equity markets improved.
It said FirstChoice and Customer Solutions had attracted solid combined net flows of $1.1 billion, with a second consecutive quarter of strong net flows to equities.
However it said insurance premium growth had been subdued as strong momentum in general insurance and direct life had been offset by weaker wholesale risk and retail advice performance.
Recommended for you
In the latest episode of Relative Return Insider, hosts Maja Garaca Djurdjevic, Shane Oliver, and Keith Ford unpack the twists and turns of today’s markets – from credit rating agencies navigating global uncertainty to simultaneous dual IPOs.
In the latest episode of Relative Return Insider, host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic and AMP’s Shane Oliver break down US and Australian rate cuts, soaring gold, and bitcoin’s volatility.
In the latest episode of the Relative Return Insider, host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic and AMP’s chief economist Shane Oliver unpack the surprising twists in the Australian economy, diving into the latest GDP numbers, what’s really driving consumer spending, and what it all means for the Reserve Bank’s next moves.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew chats with Roy Keenan, co-head of fixed income at Yarra Capital Management, to discuss the evolving fixed income asset class, his sector preferences, and the RBA’s rate-cutting policy.