The headquarters were then moved, splitting between two locations; Tower 1 of 201 Sussex Street and the Commonwealth Bank Place; a new complex of two nine-storey buildings in Darling Harbour on the western side of Sydney's city centre.

[6] In 2022, the headquarters were consolidated into the Commonwealth Bank Place, with Tower 1 of 201 Sussex Street remaining as a secondary head office.

The bank's earliest and most strenuous proponent was the flamboyant American-Australian Labor politician King O'Malley, and its first governor was Sir Denison Miller.

In 1924, the federal government of Stanley Bruce sought to place further checks and limits on the powers of the governor of the bank, and passed the Commonwealth Bank Act, 1924, which created a seven-member Board of Directors comprising the governor, the Secretary of the Treasury, and six directors "actively engaged in agriculture, commerce, finance or industry", and a Chairman of the Board elected annual from its members.

The bank had many branches across Papua New Guinea including Port Moresby, Boroko, Rabaul, Lae, Wau, Bulolo, Goroka, Kavieng, Madang, Mount Hagen, Kundiawa, Popondetta, and Wewak.

Then in October, Commonwealth announced that it had purchased Bankwest and St Andrew's Insurances from their parent company HBOS for A$2.1 billion.

A single bulk carrier shipment of coal exported from Australia would result in final emissions of four times those savings.In 2014, CBA and the big four Australian banks faced increased pressure to end their support for reef-threatening mining projects, as surveys have shown that "the big four banks would be risking customers shifting up to $236 billion in household deposits if they were to finance a project like the Abbot Point expansion".

[32] In late 2014, it "was revealed [CBA] was advising Indian coal miner Adani on its proposed development in Queensland's Galilee basin",[33] while by 2015, it has been reported that "all the major American and European banks have refused funds to the project, citing environmental damage".

[34] In May 2015, a report by Market Forces showed that CBA is the single biggest lender to fossil fuel projects within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area during the six-year period from 2008 to 2014.

[36][37] Billboards, hoardings and branch signs were revised to read "Coal Bank" and company slogans changed to highlight its investment in fossil fuels.

[38] Later in May, a report by MSCI showed that while other banks are reducing their funding for fossil fuel projects, Australia's largest banks are ramping up this same funding; The Guardian reported:[36] Australia's largest banks have committed about 10% of their known loan arrangements to the financing of risky fossil fuel projects that may become 'stranded' if the world is to avoid disastrous climate change, new research has estimated.In October 2008, former CBA financial planner Jeff Morris alleged to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and subsequently a Senate Inquiry, the extent of the misconduct of CBA's financial planning arm, Commonwealth Financial Planning Limited (CFPL), but it was not until 16 months later that ASIC would launch an investigation.

[40] They concluded a Royal Commission or Judicial Inquiry as it was deemed ASIC lacked the investigative powers required to uncover the full extent of the allegations.

[42] Former CEO Ralph Norris also conceded that he was aware of problems within CFPL acknowledging the presence of rogue financial planners but rejected the assertion of a conspiracy to cover it up.

[43] CBA has been criticised in the Senate for appointing Dr. Brendan French, who was the General Manager of Group Customer Relations before, as the head of the Open Advice Review program.

[47] Criticism has also been leveled at the fact that Dr. Brendan French was formerly a member of the board of directors of the Financial Ombudsman Service and is now working in CBA with respect to customer complaints.

[49] The alleged architects of the scam were professional poker player Bill Jordanou and accountant Robert Zaia.

A claimant who suffered a heart attack and nearly died had his claim declined based on an outdated medical definition in his insurance policy.

[51] The insurer also "refused to pay total permanent disability (TPD) and terminal illness claims on the chance that a dying person facing organ failure may have their life saved by a transplant, and that a person can claim their life insurance if they are declared terminally ill by two doctors and deemed likely to die within 12 months.

The Commonwealth Bank was called the gold medallist for ripping off customers by the counsel assisting the royal commissioner.

[59] In August 2017, the financial intelligence agency Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) launched civil proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia, alleging that CBA had breached money laundering and terrorism financing laws on 53,700 occasions.

The breaches related to the bank's use of intelligent deposit machines (IDMs) between November 2012 and September 2015—the bank claimed that a programming error allowed depositors to instantly credit cash deposits to their accounts, whilst failing to report amounts over $10,000 to AUSTRAC, and not enforcing any limits to the number of transactions.

[60] ASIC commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court on 30 January 2018 alleging manipulation of the bank bill swap rate (BBSW).

The sale completed on for A$2.1 billion on 19 December 2008, and required Commonwealth Bank to repay the capital HBOS had loaned Bankwest.

As they were deemed to be in breach of their loan conditions, the bank was able to charge increased interest rates, or require early repayment.

[62] Borrowers complained that they had complied with the monetary conditions of the loans: they had kept up interest payments and repayments, and disputed whether it was reasonable to apply penalty interest and require early repayment for non-monetary issues (for example, not having invested the funds for the purpose borrowed, or no longer having adequate security to back the loan).

The committee concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that impairment of loans was related to an attempt to 'claw back' any of the BankWest purchase price.

Consumer group Choice continued to lobby for more State governments to also ban the banking program from public schools.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, "They would do so when parents had signed up their kids for school banking, often referred to as Dollarmites, but had not deposited money into the account within 30 days.

CBA has been granted a MySuper authority, enabling it to continue to receive default superannuation contribution from 1 January 2014.

[citation needed] Beem It is an instant payment free-to-download mobile application owned by Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac later sold to Eftpos Australia.