Corporate Governance and Ethics - Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Running Head: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & ETHICS
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & ETHICS
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1CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & ETHICS
Executive summary
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is considered to be one of the largest multinational
banks in Australia. It generally provides various range of financial services to the customers like
retail, business and institutional banking. In recent times the organisation is facing a series of
ethical issues that damage the image and global acceptance of the organisation dominantly. The
ethical issues can be found out with special focus on the governance and culture of the bank in
doing ethical business practice in Australia. In this regard, the purpose of this report is to identify
those issues related to Commonwealth Bank of Australia and evaluate the issues on the basis of
both utilitarian and Kantian ethics principles. In fact, for a better understanding, the report
further intends to define the ethical theories and argues about the characteristics. Based on the
entire understanding, a reflective solution will be provided that will help to mitigate the issues
effectively. From the conclusion, it was found that the ethical issues of CBA are rightly
discussed in the light of Kantian ethics and Utilitarianism and the report critically discussed the
ethical issues in the organisation.

2CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & ETHICS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Issues in Commonwealth Bank...................................................................................................3
Utilitarianism...............................................................................................................................5
Core concept............................................................................................................................5
Related to the issue..................................................................................................................6
Kantian Deontology.....................................................................................................................7
Core concept............................................................................................................................7
Related to the issue..................................................................................................................8
Reflection on resolving the issue.....................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11

3CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & ETHICS
Introduction
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is considered to be one of the largest
multinational banks in Australia. It generally provides various range of financial services to the
customers like retail, business and institutional banking. Moreover, CBA is also associated with
the practice of superannuation, insurance, investment and broking services. This magnanimity of
Commonwealth bank makes it a financial giant in Australia. Founded in 1911 with its
headquarter in Sydney, the company has more than 1,100 branches across the world with a
number of more than 51,000 employees. This global presence of CBAA lists it in the ‘big four’
financial companies in Australia along with NAB, ANZ and Westpac. However, in recent times
the organisation is facing a series of ethical issues that damage the image and global acceptance
of the organisation dominantly. The ethical issues can be found out with special focus on the
governance and culture of the bank in doing ethical business practice in Australia.
In this regard, the purpose of this report is to identify those issues related to
Commonwealth Bank of Australia and evaluate the issues on the basis of both utilitarian and
Kantian ethics principles. In fact, for a better understanding, the report further intends to define
the ethical theories and argues about the characteristics. Based on the entire understanding, a
reflective solution will be provided that will help to mitigate the issues effectively.
Discussion
Issues in Commonwealth Bank
The workplace environment in CBA was not good under the leadership of the erstwhile
CEO Ian Narev. The report of Maddock (2018) argued that the Commonwealth Bank employees