Citi's Brendan Sproules now expects CBA to announce $5bn share buyback for 1H21.
"To our mind, the combination of the improving macro environment, in addition to a strong excess capital position pre and post-Covid, makes a compelling case to the regulator to approve, seeing CBA first out of the blocks," he says.
But he also thinks the debate about potential buybacks should be broader than CBA since excess capital is a sector-wide phenomenon, it's proportionately higher at peers and potential earnings accretion from buybacks may be larger for the other majors.
"To that end, we maintain our preference for Westpac, which has strong excess capital, material pro-forma EPS accretion, and upside risk from further divestments in time."
WBC Price at posting:
$25.79 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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