Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn enters his bachelor era

Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn has had a lot on his plate recently.

The golden boy of corporate Australia has had to contend with a fall in mortgage applications after the Albanese government announced it’d restrict housing investor tax concessions in the May budget. He’s also had to find a way to fit Felix Lee and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese into his stacked diary.

But if all of that wasn’t enough, the Commonwealth Bank boss has also had the breakdown of his marriage to work through. Comyn and his wife, Lucy, have split up, a spokesman for the bank confirmed on Tuesday.

“Matt and Lucy have been separated for some time,” the Commonwealth Bank spokesman told CBD. “They are working through the terms privately. Matt’s concern is for his family.”

Comyn and his wife, who is English, according to a 2020 profile in The Australian Financial Review, have three children; two girls and a boy. In that profile, Comyn admitted that finding time to spend with his family could be tough with the demands of his job.

“They understand and are supportive, but that’s not to say you don’t miss things,” Comyn said at the time.

In the years since, Comyn has accrued untold influence both in Australian business and in the halls of Parliament House. The Commonwealth Bank boss is so beloved by Treasurer Jim Chalmers that the treasurer reportedly signed off on an orange pass granting Comyn access to parliament last year.

He was also among the gaggle of notables who showed face alongside Albanese at the now-famous Point Piper fundraiser organised by Felix Lee, as revealed by The Australian Financial Review just last month.

Following the release of the Albanese government’s May budget, Comyn has also emerged as a lonely supporter of Labor’s reforms among the nation’s executive class, for whom the budget has been the subject of a protracted wave of breathless consternation.

The Commonwealth Bank boss, whose pay rose to $9.1 million in the last financial year, is well-liked and respected by almost everyone he comes into contact with. Comyn has not had a single blemish on his public image, which has been constructed largely by a business press completely enamoured with the CBA boss’s candour and success.

But something tells us there’s at least one issue we won’t be hearing him talking about anytime soon: his marriage.

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