Following news of two transactions this week, all the businesses that Commonwealth Bank bundled up in New Co in 2018 have been sold, except two.
The bank is still looking to get Aussie Home Loans off its books and manage the “assisted closure” of advice group Financial Wisdom.
Yesterday CBA announced that it has sold 55 per cent of Colonial First State to private equity firm KKR for A$1.7 billion.
CBA has committed to co-invest in the business with KKR, overhauling its product offerings and pricing, upgrading customer service and modernising technology.
The bank said the sale would add between $1.4 and $1.9 billion to its common equity tier 1 capital ratio.
On Tuesday, the bank announced that it had received regulatory approval to sell its equity interest in an Indonesian life insurance company. It will sell its 80 per cent holding in PT Commonwealth Life to PT FWD Life Indonesia.
In June last year, it sold Count Financial to CountPlus for $2.5 million and committed to sell its 35 per cent holding in CountPlus.
Yesterday the bank clarified that the CountPlus holding, which is in the name of Colonial First State Group Ltd, is not part of the KKR deal.
Last August, the bank completed the sale of Colonial First State Global Asset Management, now First Sentier Investors, to Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp. The deal was worth $4.2 billion and added $3.1 billion to CET1.
It is selling its interest in BoComm Life Insurance to Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Completion of that deal is still waiting for regulatory approval.
The assisted closure of Financial Wisdom involves a program to transition advisers to self-licensing arrangements or move them to another licensee. The bank has not provided an update on Financial Wisdom since last August.
Its current commitment is to stop providing licensee services through Financial Wisdom in June.
In addition to its ownership of Aussie Home Loans, CBA owns 16 per cent of mortgage broker franchise group Mortgage Choice. There have been no recent updates on the fate of these investments.