An investment analysis of the Commonwealth Bank

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is Australia's largest retail bank and one of the big four. It also operates in New Zealand and Asia. Its core business is the provision of retail, business and institutional banking services. It is also a major fund manager and has an increasing market share in general and life insurance.
The company strategy is focused on Australia, New Zealand and Asia division is to become Australia's finest financial services organisation through excelling in customer service, with the groups objected to be ranked number one in customer satisfaction by June 2010. The CEO's strategic priorities are customer service, business banking, technology and operational excellence, trust and team spirit and profitable growth. The Co-op bank has invested heavily in customer service training new staff to recover market share losses in home loans and deposits. The bank has recruited new business bankers and has upgraded service offer will stop information technology there is a new shared services approach. The bank aims to improve staff engagement and reduce turnover. The bank sees medium-term growth opportunities in Asia and has built a portfolio holdings in Asian banks. The organisation avoids businesses it perceives to be high risk or which they meet its return criteria with the aim to keep credit quality strong. This bank is always assessing potential acquisitions and acquired BankWest in 2008.
The key personnel at the Commonwealth bank are the chairman of the board Mr Schubert, the chief executive officer being Mr Ralph Norris, the secretary Mr J Hatton and the auditors of the organisation at PricewaterhouseCoopers. The registered office of the bank is 48 Martin Place Sydney.  the market capitalisation of the bank is $82 billion and represents a very conservative investment style the last share price of the bank's shares was $53.96 with 1.5 million shares on issue the last recorded return percentage was 68% with a price to earnings ratio of 17.8. The last recorded earnings per share was 200 $.92 and with a net profit after tax of $4,358,000,000 giving the bank a total return on assets of 0.71% and return on equity of 14%.  The share price history of the bank has almost exactly traced the performance of the ASX All Ordinaries.  the bank was hit hard by the global financial crisis although because of strong provincial regulation in Australia this effect is limited compared with international banks.