Shareholders in Australia’s largest bank will vote on its approach to deforestation and hope for good news on its mortgage lending business, which has weighed on its share price.
A wide range of concerns will be on the table at the Commonwealth Bank annual general meeting in Sydney on Wednesday.
Investors and analysts will be looking for another update on mortgage applications after the bank revealed in August applications were down 15 per cent in recent months compared to 2025.
CBA chief executive Matt Comyn attributed the slide to multiple interest rate hikes, higher petrol prices and tax policy changes that had taken a toll on the housing market in 2026.
However, applications had been ticking up after hitting a nadir at the end of June, Mr Comyn added.
CBA doesn’t break down exactly how much money it makes from its mortgage business but the bank is the biggest mortgage lender in Australia, with about a quarter of the market.
In 2025/26, Commonwealth Bank’s retail banking division, which includes mortgage lending, contributed about half of its record $11 billion cash profit.
CBA shares closed Tuesday at $154.50, down 4.1 per cent since the start of the year, partly due to concerns about its mortgage business.
Other lenders have reported similar declines in mortgage applications.
The Finance Sector Union on Tuesday scrapped a planned protest by about 30 or 40 workers outside the shareholder meeting at the Hyatt Regency after the bank made an improved enterprise agreement pay offer.
Workers on the lowest band would get a 13 per cent pay increase over three years, according to the union, which had called the bank’s previous below-inflation pay offers insulting.
“This new offer from CBA is a reminder that no institution is powerful enough to resist workers who are organised and determined to get a fair deal,” the union’s acting national secretary Nicole McPherson said.
A delegation from the union would attend the meeting to ask about the bank’s use of artificial intelligence, a spokesman said.
Shareholders will vote on a double-pronged resolution involving the bank’s approach to financing activities that contribute to deforestation.
Super fund provider Australian Ethical, which co-sponsored the resolution, says vast amounts of land in NSW and Queensland is being cleared, mostly to make way for livestock pastures.
An area the size of 480,000 football pitches laid side by side was deforested in the two states in 2023/24, according to state government figures cited by Australian Ethical.
“What the resolution is asking is for CBA to put in place a plan to, at some point, stop financing deforestation,” Australian Ethical’s ethical stewardship lead Amanda Richman said.
“It’s not saying do it overnight, but give us your plan – tell us that you’re working on it.”
Commonwealth Bank’s board has recommended shareholders reject the resolutions.
Committing in advance to “deforestation-free finance” would constrain the bank’s ability to determine the appropriate financing response to risks, regulatory settings and customer circumstances as they evolved, it said.
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