Commonwealth Bank has rolled out its new Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and introduced its new Indigenous leadership team.
“Our purpose at the Commonwealth Bank is to build a brighter future for all and through our Reconciliation Action Plan we seek to deliver on this commitment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples every day,” CBA CEO Matt Comyn said.
In its seventh RAP, and the third to achieve Elevate status, CBA sets out an ambitious plan for the next three years to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees, customers, and communities by:
- removing barriers to accessing appropriate financial products and services
- building community trust in the bank and embedding Indigenous rights considerations in its business
- removing barriers to employment within the bank and economic participation for First Nations businesses
- understanding the unique nature of financial abuse in the First Nations context and working with community to develop ways to identify and address it
“As the nation begins an important public discussion about constitutional recognition and an Indigenous voice to Parliament, Commonwealth Bank is supportive of the Uluru Statement from the Heart,” Comyn said. “Taking the advice of our Indigenous Advisory Council, we are supporting conversations across the bank to understand what is proposed and how it might contribute to better outcomes for First Nations peoples.”
CBA also introduced an Indigenous Leadership Team, a diverse group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders from across the bank who will help inform the bank’s approaches and decisions, along with the bank’s Indigenous Advisory Council (IAC) and elected members of the bank’s Indigenous Employee Network.
“The ILT is underpinned by strong cultural concepts of leadership and together we seek to amplify the strengths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being, the purpose of which is to support interactions across CommBank in Indigenous-focused business and projects,” said Mitchell Heritage, a Kuku-Yalanji/Goorimpul man, a senior product owner in retail banking services, and member of the ILT and employee representative on the group’s IAC.
Sean Gordon, chair of CBA’s IAC, said the bank’s continuous efforts to improve how it engages with First Nations employees, customers, and communities will ultimately lead to improved reconciliation outcomes.
“This is an ambitious plan and one that I am proud to oversee in my role as chair of the CommBank IAC,” Gordon said. “I look forward to working with the Indigenous Advisory Council, Indigenous leadership team, and teams across the bank to continue to build a brighter future for First Nations peoples.”
In support of reconciliation, artwork made by First Nations artist Leona McGrath for the bank, which was unveiled for NAIDOC Week in 2021, will be made available as a background in the CBA app.
