She chose the former. It was an interesting call from a chairman who had, in the previous few years, witnessed how two of CBA’s competitor banks had managed board composition strategy.

National Australia Bank, when faced with post-royal commission challenges, chose a former banker, Phil Chronican to take the chair. He in turn appointed Ross McEwan to the chief executive role. It’s been a highly effective tag team responsible for the rebirth of the bank, which had previously been in decline for more than 10 years.

Westpac, also bruised by AUSTRAC fallout and the royal commission, also chose to introduce a banker to the chair in former head of ANZ John McFarlane. He partnered with Peter King, the bank’s former chief financial officer who was elevated to the top job after the AUSTRAC debacle.

The Westpac governance petri dish has produced a culture that has not been marked by success. The bank has struggled to find its feet and return to market share growth.

Veteran banking analyst Brian Johnson from Jefferies is a fan of NAB’s chairman/CEO team but recognises the dangers of putting a banker into the chair, as evidenced by Westpac’s experience. Essentially, there can be confusion around who at Westpac is directing strategy.

Westpac’s decision to install McFarlane, a high-profile former Australian banker, was a reaction to the chaos it was experiencing. It was hoping that the new chairman would be an antidote that would provide shareholders with confidence.

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CBA is in a different stage of its evolution. From its superior operational vantage point, Johnson thinks that the combination of Comyn and O’Malley could further attack the market share of the two underperforming banks, Westpac and ANZ.

He believes CBA’s need to focus on governance is more in the rearview mirror. Execution, process and discipline is what matters for CBA. This is what O’Malley, who oversaw the restructuring and transformation of BlueScope after the global financial crisis, brings to the table.

CBA’s main challenge isn’t being posed by its big bank competitors; instead the heat is being applied by a plethora of fintechs biting at the heels of and disrupting the established banking sector.

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Comyn has been proactive in this area, having introduced a range of new services from buy now, pay later (BNPL) to a cryptocurrency trading product and only this week a new low-interest rate mortgage product to borrowers who plan to buy low-carbon footprint homes.

Whether O’Malley will need to make a decision on Comyn’s replacement remains to be seen. While this is seen as the biggest job for any chairman, and Comyn is four years into a job that normally has a lifespan of around seven years, he is only 46 and doesn’t appear to show signs of wanting to move beyond what must be any Australian banker’s dream job.

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