Commonwealth Bank boss who wants to charge you $3 to withdraw your own money lives a fabulously wealthy life – as Australia’s ‘$20million man’ gives Sydney sandstone mansion a facelift

EXCLUSIVE

The country’s richest banker is spending almost $1 million renovating his palatial mansion as he presses ahead with plans to deny ordinary Australians $3 to access their own money.

Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn came under fire for going completely out of touch after Daily Mail Australia revealed how his bank imposed a “grubby cash grab” on customers in the run-up to Christmas.

The bank relented this week after widespread outrage and announced that it will now delay the introduction of the controversial $3 withdrawal fee.

But so far it has resisted calls to drop the charge entirely.

It comes amid continued criticism that Australia’s financial executives pay themselves huge salaries while the rest of the country struggles the cost of living crisis.

Mr Comyn, whose bank is the main financial institution for more than a third of the country, remains the highest-paid executive of Australia’s ‘big four’ banks. He earned about $9 million last fiscal year, after bringing in more than $10.4 million for the year. for.

But while his clients struggle to make ends meet, Mr Comyn has spent big on the long-term renovation of his multimillion-dollar sandstone mansion in Sydney’s affluent inner west.

The bank boss initially estimated that extensive renovation work on his $9.5 million pile – in a tree-lined enclave overlooking Centennial Park in Randwick – would earn him around $920,153, according to the development application he submitted to his council.

But now that the overhaul has dragged on for almost two years, there is speculation that the amount could have been in excess of seven figures.

Mr Comyn and his wife Lucy-Ellen have been upgrading all three levels of the mansion since November 2022, adding ensuites to the prestigious home’s four existing bedrooms, a ground floor rumpus and extensive landscaping.

Workers were still busy mixing concrete at the posh address on Thursday morning, with the mansion still surrounded by cladding.

The couple bought the mansion for $3.3 million when Mr Comyn was still the bank’s group director for retail banking services, before both its value and his salary skyrocketed.

The value of his home has already tripled and is expected to pass the $10 million mark once all his ongoing work is finally completed.

The Commonwealth Bank initially planned to move customers from their Complete Access Account to a Smart Access Account from January 6, which would include a $3 fee when withdrawing money from a branch, post office or their phone.

After a strong backlash, the bank said the change would be delayed by six months for customers who are “worse off with the new fee.”

The Albanian government denounced the move, with Housing Minister Clare O’Neil saying: ‘It doesn’t seem fair or appropriate and this is a huge bank making huge profits. Come on, guys.’

‘It’s Christmas. We don’t need this right now,” she said. “This is not something the bank should be doing and we ask them to reconsider.”

Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones also hammered Comyn’s bank over the fee, calling it a “slap in the face” to loyal customers and the “worst Christmas present imaginable.”

“The Commonwealth Bank must reconsider this terrible decision,” he said. “This appears to be a tax on Australians demanding the right to use their cash.

‘And the government will not support that. We are working for Australians to ensure they can continue to use cash if they want to.”

North Queensland federal MP Bob Katter described the new charges as “an act of defiance and contempt for the people of Australia.”

He said the bank was making a “counterattack” against the recent announcement that businesses selling essential goods and services such as groceries, medicines and fuel will be forced to accept cash from their customers unless they receive a special exemption in early 2026.

Chris O’Keefe, presenter of Sydney radio station 2GB, was even more scathing, branding the cash grab “beyond obscene.”

“Charging a fee to access our own money is nothing more than a dirty little money grab,” he said. “How much blood do they want from us?”

He could barely contain his disbelief at the bank’s claim that the move was “all part of our efforts to provide Australians with the best banking experience”.

“They’re definitely joking,” O’Keefe said. “Are these people real?”

O’Keefe said cash deposit customers cost the financial giant about $400 million a year, but noted that the bank made a whopping after-tax profit of nearly $10 billion last fiscal year.

“This is all about improving the bottom line,” O’Keefe said.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia it “continues to offer customers free cash withdrawals from our national ATM network.”

They added that the company would “continue to offer waivers on assisted withdrawal fees for customers who meet certain criteria, including certain types of pension recipients, those who contribute $2,000 per month and those under 18 years of age.

‘Our Streamline Basic account has no monthly account fees or assisted withdrawal fees and is available to customers who hold an eligible concession card.’

Angus Sullivan, director of CommBank’s retail banking group, said in a statement on Wednesday that the change had been “poorly” communicated to the bank’s customers.

“The changes taking place are such that approximately 90 percent of the customers we plan to move, and who we expect will be better off or the same, will be moved to the lower monthly cost account,” he said .

‘If those customers do not want to move, they can contact us to discuss the options.

‘For the other customers we are changing our approach and pausing the migration. Instead, we will contact these customers over the next six months to communicate about suitable product options.

“The changes outlined above will not impact the approximately nine million CommBank customers who do not use the Complete Access product.

‘Commonwealth Bank maintains the largest branch network. All our branches have free ATMs and we have a moratorium on the closure of regional branches until at least the end of 2026.”