CBA: Taking Shareholder Money by Not Price Gouging Is... Theft?
When Mat Comyn, CEO of Australia's record-smashing Commonwealth Bank, told a parliamentary committee that repaying $270 million in excessive fees to vulnerable customers would be an 'appropriation' of shareholder money, he clarified the financial sector's true north. This isn't about ethical banking; it's about maximizing 'value' for those who already have. The Guardian reports CBA's latest cash
profit hit $10.3 billion, a sum that evidently doesn't include enough wiggle room for restorative justice for those nickel-and-dimed into poverty. One might wonder if the same moral outrage is applied when executives receive multi-million dollar bonuses derived from such 'excessive fees.' It seems the sanctity of shareholder value only applies to funds flowing away from the poor, not into the
pockets of the already wealthy. This framing isn't unique; it's a standard play from the corporate playbook: 'shareholder value' as a shield for exploitation, while the actual 'shareholders' (often pension funds and retail investors) remain oblivious to the human cost of their dividends. The true appropriation isn't repayment; it's the fees themselves.