Commonwealth Bank History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones

The Commonwealth Bank was born out of Australian national federation and the visionary economic ideals of Prime Minister Andrew Fisher's Labor government. In December 1911, the Commonwealth Bank Act was enacted to create a national bank that would combine both commercial trading banking and savings bank functions for the Australian public. Opening its doors on July 15, 1912, under Governor Sir Denison Miller, CommBank initially operated through post offices across Victoria before expanding nationwide. During World War I, CommBank played an essential role organizing war loans and financing wartime industry. In 1920, the bank assumed responsibility for the Australian note issue, and the Commonwealth Bank Act of 1924 formally conferred central banking powers upon the institution. Throughout the Great Depression and World War II, CommBank acted as the nation's monetary stabilization authority. In 1959, the Reserve Bank Act separated CommBank's central banking responsibilities into the newly created Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), allowing Commonwealth Banking Corporation to focus exclusively on commercial and savings banking. In 1991, the Australian government initiated the staged privatization of CommBank, concluding with a third public share offer in 1996 that distributed shares to millions of Australian retail investors. In 2000, CBA acquired Colonial First State for A$9.5 billion, expanding into wealth management, and in December 2008 acquired Bankwest for A$2.1 billion, securing deep market presence in Western Australia.