Sydney, Jan 28, 2026, 16:46 AEDT — The market has closed.
- CBA shares climbed 0.2% following a volatile session amid changing rate expectations.
- Commonwealth Bank said late Wednesday that some customers were unable to access the CommBank app and NetBank.
- Core inflation coming in hotter pushed markets to ramp up bets on an RBA rate hike next week.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia reported that the CommBank app and NetBank were down for some users late Wednesday, after markets closed. Shares in CBA ended the day up 0.2%, closing at A$150.36, having fluctuated between A$149.83 and A$151.38. The bank confirmed that card payments and ATMs remained functional. 1
The disruption coincided with Australia’s core inflation gauge surpassing forecasts, boosting bets on a rate hike at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Feb. 3 meeting. Traders currently assign roughly a 73% probability to a 25-basis-point increase — 0.25 percentage points — according to Reuters. 2
This is important for CBA since its stock behaves like a defensive play, even as interest rates shift. While rising rates might boost bank income in some areas, they also hit households hard and tend to curb credit growth, particularly in mortgages.
CommBank’s update didn’t specify a cause. Outages often hit investors hard, sparking potential compensation payouts, added tech expenses, and sometimes regulatory scrutiny.
The broader S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.09% to 8,933.9 points, largely driven by the inflation report late in the session, ABC reported. CBA edged out the index, but just barely—no significant shift there. 3
Banks face a critical stretch ahead as markets watch if rate-hike expectations hold and how fast deposit costs respond. This so-called “deposit competition” means banks must pay more for customer cash to back loans, tightening margins even as lending rates climb.
Morningstar analyst Nathan Zaia values CBA at A$100, flagging the stock as trading well above that level. He highlighted “loan growth, NIM, operating costs, and bad debts” as critical metrics to watch in the bank’s results. Zaia expects the net interest margin — the gap between the bank’s loan earnings and deposit costs — to remain “flattish.” He described the current share price as “detached from the fundamentals.” 4
Still, the situation isn’t one-sided. Should the RBA raise rates, borrowers already stretched thin could face trouble, increasing bad-debt risk and weighing on sentiment around bank earnings. Plus, if the digital outage drags on or happens again, it could escalate into a broader operational issue—not just a single rough afternoon.
Traders will be looking for any signals that the app and NetBank are stable before Thursday’s open, along with more clarity from the bank on what went wrong. After that, focus returns to rates and funding costs, which often shift quicker than many investors anticipate.
Commonwealth Bank is set to release its half-year results and announce its interim dividend on Feb. 11. The stock will trade ex-dividend starting Feb. 18, with the dividend payment expected on March 30, according to its investor calendar. 5
