Big four bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), has been voted as Australia’s most valuable brand, reporting a 2 per cent increase over the year.
According to data from Brand Finance, the firm said the big four bank reported a 2 per cent brand value increase during 2025 to reach $16 billion.
Brand value was calculated based on factors such as marketing investment, stakeholder equity and business performance as well as estimates of future revenue.
The bank was also eighth in terms of Australia’s strongest brands with a ranking of 85.2, with Australia Post holding the top position with a score of 94.1.
Reflecting on the rise, the consultancy said CBA had seen steady revenue and resilient lending during the period.
“This performance reflects steady revenue expectations and continued strength in its core lending business. Growth in market capitalisation has been driven by strong home loan demand, with the bank recording a 6 per cent increase in its total home lending. Alongside this, Commonwealth Bank has reduced its reliance on mortgage brokers, strengthening in-house loan origination to protect margins and reinforce long-term brand resilience in a competitive banking environment.”
However, it is a different story when it comes to its share price with CBA shares down by 5.5 per cent over the year to 21 January compared to gains of 4.4 per cent by the ASX 200.
Commonwealth Bank has historically been viewed as a so-called ‘stock market darling’ for its strong long-term gains with its share price rising 85.2 per cent over five years and it is widely held by Australian equity fund managers.
In its full-year results, it reported a statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) of $10.1 billion, a 4 per cent increase, but shares plunged after the results which wiped about $15 billion from its share price, just weeks after reaching a record high of $190 which valued the bank at around $300 billion.
In financial advice, it finally exited its last position in the advice market with the sale of its private wealth arm Commonwealth Private Advice to LGT Wealth Management in June 2025 which brought over $5 billion in assets under advice.
More recently, it paid $792k in penalties after the ACCC alleged it breached Consumer Data Right rules when it failed to enable data sharing for some business and partnership accounts.
Speaking to InvestorDaily, Damien Keune, portfolio manager at Solaris, said: “CBA remains the strongest franchise among the major banks and continues to generate the best returns,
“From our perspective, the recent retracement in CBA’s share price says more about valuation than about any deterioration in the underlying business or its standing with customers. At the peak, the valuation simply did not make sense to us, so a 20 per cent pull-back from the highs is not especially surprising, particularly in a market that has been re-pricing a number of recent ‘darlings’ where valuation discipline had been stretched.”
Big four banks
The other big four banks also appeared on the list but in a lower position at sixth for NAB, unchanged from 2025, eighth for ANZ and ninth for Westpac. ANZ’s position fell from fourth in 2025 to eighth in 2026 with a 13 per cent decline in brand value to $7.6 billion while Westpac’s position rose from 12th last year with a brand value of $7.4 billion.
In total, the banking sector represented 23 per cent of the ranking.
| Brand | Value strength |
| CBA | $16.1bn |
| Woolworths | $15.1bn |
| Telsta | $12.4bn |
| Coles | $8.7bn |
| Bunnings | $7.9bn |
| NAB | $7.8bn |
| BHP | $7.7bn |
| ANZ | $7.6bn |
| Westpac | $7.4bn |
| Rio Tinto | $6.7bn |
Source: Brand Value, January 2026
Commenting on the ANZ fall in ranking, Brand Value said: “[ANZ’s] revenue grew modestly in FY2025, supported by higher net interest income and lending growth, even as other operating income declined and margins remained under pressure, contributing to a 10 per cent drop in statutory profit to $5.9 billion.
“Overall, ANZ is navigating a challenging banking environment while pursuing its long‑term ‘ANZ 2030’ strategy, which focuses on productivity improvements, diversified earnings streams and strengthening its core businesses.”
Over the past year, the firm has paid a penalty of $240 million for widespread misconduct across its institutional and retail operations, the largest fine from ASIC against a single entity.
The bank also admitted to unconscionable conduct in dealings with the Australian government, misreporting bond trading data by tens of billions of dollars, failing to properly manage customer hardship cases, providing misleading information on savings interest rates, and mishandling deceased estates affecting thousands of customers.
Finally, it is set to defend a court proceeding by former CEO Shayne Elliott over allegations bonuses of $13.5 million were withheld from him. ANZ had an agreement on the terms of his departure and Elliott claims this agreement was breached when the board, led by Paul O’Sullivan, cancelled his multi-million-dollar bonus.
For Westpac, which saw its ranking rise, the consultancy said: “The bank saw its brand value jump 36 per cent to $7.4 billion on the back of FY2025 strong financial performance, including a 14 per cent fourth quarter profit boost, and strategic initiatives across technology and capital management.
“In 2025, Westpac rolled out Australia’s first embedded virtual card in partnership with Mastercard and Oracle, advanced its ‘Unite’ technology project to unify systems across St George, Bank of Melbourne, and BankSA.”
Shares in Westpac have risen 16 per cent over one year to 21 January.
