Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn has hit out against the global tech giants and regulators, saying the local lenders are disadvantaged by policy settings which are not always in the national interest. Before a House of Representatives economics committee yesterday, Comyn was critical of the Reserve Bank’s proposal to ban surcharges on card transactions. He also had a crack at the ACCC, saying it made a mistake ten years ago when it didn’t allow the major banks to collectively bargain against Apple, when it entered the payments system. Comyn’s argument, in short, was that technology is changing the banking landscape, and policymakers could be doing more to support the big lenders.

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News in brief

The minutes of the Reserve Bank board meeting two weeks ago show that the central bank has no plans to cut rates unless inflation data shows fewer price pressures in the economy.

The local share market finished down nearly two per cent yesterday, the 2^nd worst session in 2025, led lower by tech stocks. About 85 per cent of the ASX200 ended lower with the Commonwealth Bank falling 2.6 per cent, meaning the ASX’s largest company is off 20 per cent since its high in late June. See yesterday's worst-performing stocks at the end of the newsletter.

A user of an old Samsung model phone has died, after their call to triple zero failed. The customer’s carrier, TPG Telecom, said the services on its network were fully operational at the time. The telco regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, said it is investigating whether TPG breached any of its obligations.

The number of personal insolvencies has risen for the third year in a row, as the cost-of-living crisis hurts households and small businesses. Australia recorded 12,257 personal insolvencies last financial year, up 5.3 per cent according to the Australian Financial Security Authority.

The UN Security Council has voted in favour of a US-drafted resolution that endorses President Donald Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza. Included in the plan is the establishment of an International Stabilisation Force to which, the US says, multiple unnamed countries have offered to contribute.

Fear-o-meter

Does CBA’s Matt Comyn have a point when he said that the playing field for banks against tech companies is not level.

Yes, but it is only half the story.

Tech giants like Apple and Google have swooped into the Australian payments system, providing services without any of the legacy issues that Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and ANZ battle. And they are much less regulated. Also the banks' social licence means they have to provide rural branches, and cash for ATM machines. Apple and friends don’t need to worry about that.

But under current regulations, banks have a big advantage over the tech companies – they can take deposits. And deposits comprise about 60 per cent of funding for the lenders, providing a very cheap flow of funds to lend to individuals or businesses. Tech companies can’t take deposits.

Like happened in music, and media and pretty much every other industry, the banks are being disrupted by big tech. Matt Comyn, and his fellow CEOs, need to work out a way to combat the threat.

Just as important is for the regulators, like the Reserve Bank and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, to decide what truly is in the national interest when regulating finance.

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On yesterday's sell-off, particularly in tech stocks, which led to the second worst day on the local market this year:

 

"If you look at all of those traditional metrics for understanding relative valuation, they're all at record highs or at extremes. And it's all been fuelled by what I call a general purpose technology boom. And we've seen many of those before. AI is just the latest one. Prior to that, it was the dot com boom, TV and electronics, commercial flight, radio, the automobile, electricity, steam locomotion. They were all general purpose technology booms that turned into bubbles because people believe in the thematic being structural.

 

But what happens is eventually that structural theme meets with the commercial reality that's cyclical. And that's what I think the market's just catching on to now. And you're seeing investors starting to reappraise their expectations that, you know what, this isn't going to be a smooth northeasterly boom in AI. We're going to see bumps on the road.

 

And that bump is going to be the commercial reality of delays in data centre commissioning, energy costs that are higher than expected, GPUs that aren't going to last as long as companies had hoped. And so what we've seen is perhaps a belief in the idea that we're committing to spending a bit too much on this boom, given that there's a cyclical nature to it."

Greed-o-meter

While technology stocks were hit hardest in yesterday's sell-off, it wasn't limited to just tech. Here are the 12 worst performers yesterday on the S&P/ASX 200.

Source: Market Index

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