Editing Commonwealth Bank (section)

===Central bank (1920–1959)===
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[[File:CBA Martin Place 001.jpg|left|thumb|270x270px|The [[Commonwealth Trading Bank Building]] (1916-1960)]]
In 1920, the bank began acquiring [[central bank]] powers when it took over the responsibility for the issue of Australian bank notes from the Department of the Treasury.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://about.commbank.com.au/group_display/0,1922,CH2054,00.html |title=Commonwealth Bank – History – A brief history of the Commonwealth Bank |publisher=About.commbank.com.au |access-date=2012-07-14}}</ref> Also in 1920, the Commonwealth Bank took over the [[Queensland Government Savings Bank]].

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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Commonwealth Bank Act 1924 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C1924A00015 |website=Federal Register of Legislation |publisher=Australian Government |access-date=19 December 2022 |date=20 August 1924}}</ref> The first six board members were appointed on 10 October 1924: [[John Garvan|Sir John Garvan]], [[Robert Gibson (businessman)|Sir Robert Gibson]], [[Samuel Hordern|Sir Samuel Hordern]], [[Robert McComas]], Richard Samuel Drummond, and John McKenzie Lees.<ref name=board1>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232474493 |title=Government Gazette Appointments and Employment |newspaper=[[Commonwealth of Australia Gazette]] |issue=75 |location=Australia, Australia |date=16 October 1924 |accessdate=19 December 2022 |page=1954 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16169893 |title=COMMONWEALTH BANK. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=4 October 1924 |accessdate=19 December 2022 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Garvan was appointed as the first chairman on 13 October 1924.<ref name=garvan>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201426560 |title=Commonwealth Bank. |newspaper=[[The Evening News (Rockhampton)|The Evening News]] |issue=687 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=14 October 1924 |accessdate=19 December 2022 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

In 1931, the bank board came into conflict with the [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]] government of [[James Scullin]]. The bank's chairman Sir Robert Gibson refused to expand credit in response to the [[Great Depression]], as had been proposed by Treasurer [[Ted Theodore|Edward Theodore]] unless the government cut pensions, which Scullin refused to do. The conflict surrounding this issue led to the fall of the government, and to demands from Labor for reform of the bank and more direct government control over monetary policy.

Also in 1931, it took over the savings bank business of the [[Government Savings Bank of New South Wales]] (est. 1871), the current account and fixed deposit business of the NSW Rural Bank Department, and the State Savings Bank of Western Australia (est. 1863).

In 1942, the Commonwealth Banking Corporation (CBC) suspended its operations in [[Papua New Guinea]] as the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] captured many of the towns in which it operated, and bombed [[Port Moresby]]. The bank resumed operations later, possibly in 1944.

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. On Bougainville, there was Kieta, Panguna, Arawa and early on a part-time sub-branch at Loloho. It maintained those facilities to support trade, local business, government, and small savers.

The Commonwealth Bank received almost all central bank powers in emergency legislation passed during [[World War II]] and at the end of the war, it used this power to begin a dramatic expansion of the economy. This was also the aim of the federal government at the time, which attempted to compel the Australian states to conduct their banking with the Commonwealth under the ''Banking Act 1945'' (Cth), but the High Court in ''Melbourne Corporation v Commonwealth'' (1947) 74 CLR 31, blocked this move.

In August 1945, the federal government of [[Ben Chifley]] passed the ''Commonwealth Bank Act, 1945'', which repealed the 1925 act and abolished the Board of Directors, returning full executive control of the bank to the governor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Commonwealth Bank Act 1945 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C1945A00013 |website=Federal Register of Legislation |date=3 August 1945 |publisher=Australian Government |access-date=19 December 2022}}</ref>

The government also dramatically expanded immigration programs. In response, the bank established a Migrant Information Service (later known as the Australian Financial & Migrant Information Service, or AFMIS). The bank expanded during this period, and in just five years it opened hundreds of branches throughout Australia and in 1951 it established a branch in the [[Solomon Islands]].

In 1958 and 1959, there was a controversy concerning the dual functions of the organization, operating as the central bank on the one hand and a commercial bank on the other. As a result, the government separated the two roles, creating the [[Reserve Bank of Australia]] to exercise the central bank function, and leaving the Commonwealth Banking Corporation to operate purely as a commercial bank. Those commercial functions were exercised by the organization's constituent sections: the Commonwealth Trading Bank of Australia, the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia, and the newly formed Commonwealth Development Bank.

From 1958 to 1976 the Commonwealth Bank operated savings bank agencies in the [[New Hebrides]].