Financial Markets Conduct (Climate-related Disclosures – Commonwealth Bank of Australia New Zealand) Exemption Notice 2024

The Financial Markets Conduct (Climate-related Disclosures – Commonwealth Bank of Australia New Zealand) Exemption Notice 2024 (Notice) exempts Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) from its obligations under section 461ZB(3)(a) of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (Act).

The Notice permits CBA to report only in relation to certain group members (CBA Group) and exempts CBA from reporting in relation to other group members (being ASB Holdings Limited and ASB Bank Limited and its subsidiaries) that are required otherwise to form part of the climate statements to be prepared for CBA’s New Zealand business under section 461ZB(3)(a) of the Act. With the exception of ASB Holdings Limited, the subsidiaries excluded from the CBA Group climate statements will be included in other climate statements pursuant to section 461ZA of the Act.

The Notice is subject to a number of conditions including that the CBA must include a specific reference on how to find the ASB climate statements in its CBA Group statements, to notify the FMA of any changes to the legal structure of CBA and any changes to the nature of the operations or assets of ASB Holdings Limited.

The key reasons for granting the exemption (as set out in the Statement of Reasons in the Notice) are that:

• the New Zealand branch of CBA operates with a high degree of business separation from ASB Bank Limited and its subsidiaries. Accordingly, the structure of the CBA Group distinguishes it from the other overseas registered banks with both New Zealand branches and subsidiaries and therefore warrants this entity-specific exemption;
• the climate statements prepared for the CBA Group would otherwise not reflect the true nature of the different members’ operations which are significantly separate and independent of one another; and
• ASB Holdings Limited would likely be excluded from the CBA Group climate statements on the basis that it is immaterial information. It would also not add any further value or information to what will already be in ASB Bank Limited’s group climate statements (given it is the holding company of ASB Bank Limited).

Download the Financial Markets Conduct (Climate-related Disclosures – Commonwealth Bank of Australia New Zealand) Exemption Notice 2024