Commonwealth Bank is reviewing plans for the transformation of CommSec, its equity and funds brokerage business, into a full service financial institution. CommSec is one of the jewels in the crown at CBA, a point underlined by its strong contribution to the bank's earnings for the year to June, reported yesterday.CommSec's monthly trading volumes were up 70 per cent, it processed a record 1.1 million trades in June and it drove a 40 per cent increase in margin loans, which now total more than $8 billion. It has started to make its presence felt in the market for IPOs and other primary equity issues. According to Thomson Financial its ranking in equity issuance has jumped from 28th to seventh over the past year.According to a source, the view within the bank is that CommSec's one million plus customer base is sufficiently different from the bank's to warrant the creation of a separate product portfolio that would include lending and deposit products.Commonwealth Bank head of Premium Business Services, Stuart Grimshaw, acknowledged that the matter was under discussion. Grimshaw said: "We are looking at opportunities but it is very early days. CommSec customers see themselves as a distinct group. We have a research project going but it has not gone beyond that."CommSec sits within the bank's business, corporate and institutional division, which was the biggest contributor to earnings growth at the CBA over the past year. Net profit for the division was up 24 per cent from $1.2 billion in 2005/06 to $1.5 billion in the year to June.Business, corporate and institutional contributed 32 per cent of the bank's $4.6 billion of cash earnings. The only part of the bank that made a bigger contribution was Australian retail banking, which contributed 39 per cent of group earnings. Overall bank cash earnings were up 18 per cent, delivering 16 per cent growth in earnings per share and a 22.1 per cent return on equity. Other highlights for the BCI division included a number one ranking in Australian debt issuing and a move from 14th to seventh in the equity capital markets rankings. The division's expenses were up 10 per cent, reflecting a busy investment program.The bank launched a new corporate and business online transaction site, CommBiz. CBA chief executive Ralph Norris said 10,000 customers had moved from legacy platforms to CommBiz since December.The bank has established a dedicated agribusiness customer service centre. It launched a 24 hour customer service centre for business customers.It has put 85 business bankers back in the branches, with more to come. And it has opened eight new business banking centres. The big investment program has yet to translate into consistent growth in business banking market share. Business lending went up, according to APRA, from 12.1 to 12.4 per cent over the year to June, but down, according to the RBA, from 13.2 to 12.9 per cent over the same period.Asset finance share fell from 14.5 to 13.2 pr cent. Business deposits increased from 11.9 to 13 per cent.