The last vestige of Commonwealth Bank’s once-sprawling financial planning operation is to be sold – the country’s largest lender has launched a strategic review of its ultra-high-net-worth advice business and sent it off to the auction house.
The sale of Commonwealth Private Advice is the latest in a years-long effort to reshape its wealth and private banking business, which began more than four years ago with the exiting of investors who had net assets of less than $2.5 million. That came after CBA decided in 2019 to follow its rivals and stop providing advice to retail investors – although it continued to do so for wholesale and sophisticated investors.
The bank once had a standalone business catering to the ultra-wealthy in the Commonwealth Private Office, which was subsumed into Commonwealth Private at the same time as the exit of its boss, former GoldmanSachs executive Ralf Haase.
A CBA spokesman declined to comment. Sources said the bank was running a competitive sale process, and the UHNW business has fielded interest from several credible buyers.
Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.
Alinta Energy has missed the deadline to secure Foreign Investment Review Board approval to buy Melbourne’s Tetris Energy. And sources close to the situation reckon it’s because of the Jeff Dimery-led gentailer’s tense history with the regulator.
Best and worst
The sharemarket edged higher for a fifth session on Thursday amid a busy day of company results as broad buying helped offset another day of falls for the mining giants.
