Commonwealth Bank of Australia : Statement regarding JobKeeper support for small business

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has opened a dedicated JobKeeper line in its 24/7 Australian-based call centres and launched a customer form on its website for small businesses seeking to access funds ahead of the Government's JobKeeper payments arriving in May.

Small businesses can also access the Government's SME Guarantee Scheme and a range of other support measures through the bank's call centres, website and business relationship managers.

Over the past month, CBA has approved more than $375 million in SME Guarantee Loans to help small and medium Australian businesses get through the coronavirus pandemic.

The bank has also auto deferred loan repayments for more than 70,000 small business customers, providing cash flow relief of up to $500 million per month, as well as reducing business interest rates to historic lows and waiving a range of fees.

The measures CBA has taken to support Australian businesses and households will inject up to $10 billion into the nation's economy.

For small businesses who have registered for JobKeeper payments but need access to the funds sooner, CBA is offering temporary borrowing solutions. To apply for a temporary overdraft for this purpose, customers can complete a simple online form, after which CBA team members will contact them to finalise the process. The bank has also established a national JobKeeper hotline, in addition to our existing team of relationship managers, to help support customers and assist them to complete this online form.

The CBA JobKeeper customer form can be accessed via https://www.commbank.com.au/latest/coronavirus/business-support/call-request.html.

The CBA JobKeeper phone line can be reached via 13 26 07.

For more information on other support measures CBA is providing for customers impacted by coronavirus, please visit https://www.commbank.com.au/latest/coronavirus.html.