CBA's talent war weakness
Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn's success in building a strong team inevitably means they will be targeted by rivals, given only one can eventually become chief executive.
Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn has a problem — although it’s one his rivals would envy.
As the leader of the best bank in the market, Comyn is not going anywhere, at least not for two or three years. He also has an executive team investors rank higher than rivals, notably head of business Mike Vacy-Lyle, head of retail Angus Sullivan, CFO Alan Docherty, head of risk Andrew Hinchcliff and head of tech Gavin Munroe.
At least a couple of them would fancy themselves as the next CEO. But, as Comyn conceded when I spoke to him after another of his execs was poached by Westpac, the reality is CEO roles are at the top of a funnel.
“Totally, it’s a funnel thing,” Comyn told me. “We have to create opportunities, we have been working with our different leaders and succession options over very different timeframes. I know I was offered great opportunities inside the Commonwealth Bank. Unfortunately, sometimes people leave, hopefully not your best people, but sometimes you do lose them to opportunities elsewhere.”
