Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev opted for qualified language in a ramble through dividend themes at the Morningstar investor conference on Friday. "There are times where the board has to take action, that's just the nature of dividends," he said, as reported by Fairfax Media. In more typical style, Narev said the bank would do "whatever we can to provide a reliable and predictable dividend". But he said these dividend payments were "not annuities". The levy imposed on banks and other financiers to cover costs of ASIC's regulatory activities will be A$246 million, ASIC said on Friday. Its exhausting patrols of the sector may not wane but the costs of doing so might. "We anticipate that this levy will fall to $237 million in 2018/19, it said. National Australia Bank will be the first major bank to share positive and negative credit information about its customers with credit bureaus, saying it will start to roll out comprehensive credit reporting by next February, The Australian reports.