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.
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