For Ian Narev,
today's full year financial results presented a rare opportunity to accentuate
the positive.
There was little else
to do given the damage already done to the Commonwealth Bank's reputation over
the scandal embroiling its financial planning arm.
So today, the full
tool box of public relations spin was deployed as the results hit the stock
exchange just after 8.30am.
Here's my analysis from today's edition of The World Today.
Here's my analysis from today's edition of The World Today.
Not surprisingly, the
CBA's team of media, investor and government relations advisors have spent
recent weeks and days polishing messages and preparing Ian Narev and chief
financial officer David Craig for the inevitably tricky questions on how they
plan to defuse the fallout from the scandal.
This morning's
investor briefing was a tame affair and Mr Narev was under little pressure to
account for the conduct of his financial planners.
However, journalists
are certain to pose harder questions at a media conference later today given
the financial and reputational cost to the CBA, which over 102 years has been
trusted for its conservative strategy and management.
The intensifying
scrutiny is unavoidable, and today despite some hoarseness, Mr Narev will
embark on print, television and radio interviews that will run until late in
the afternoon.
And given the
widespread concern about the financial planning scandal, Commonwealth Bank
media minders are likely to have received interview requests from the range of
media outlets across Australia.
As the CBA boasts in
today's media release on today's results, there are nearly 800,000 households
who own the bank's shares directly or through their superannuation schemes.
And in addition to
employing 50,000 Australians, the CBA reminds us of its contribution to the
economy and $4 billion pumped into local suppliers and partners.
The CBA brands itself
with charities, sporting organisations and communities across the country with
big financial contributions that are part of its charter for corporate social
responsbility.
However, even another
record result of $8.63 billion posted today will not be enough to deflect the
glare of a concerned federal government and a corporate regulator under
pressure to lift its game.
Ian Narev knows it
will be a long road before the noise from the scandal begins to fade.
But it emerged on his
watch when he was a key member of the CBA's senior management team and one that could partly define his legacy as chief executive.
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