Transcript of the Commonwealth Bank strategy briefing held in Sydney on 19 April 2012.Ian Narev, chief executive, Commonwealth Bank:Good afternoon everybody and thank you for joining us whether in person, via webcast or by phone, for this afternoon's discussions updating you on the Commonwealth Bank group's strategic direction.The main theme of this afternoon is a logical continuation or a logical progression, which is what you would expect given the progress and the track record of the organisation over the past number of years. We spent a lot of time over the last couple of months thinking carefully about what we had done successfully, and not so successfully, in the last few years, where the growth had come from, where the growth was likely to come from. And really affirmed our view that no great evolution was required but rather the way to maximise the long term value of this organisation for its customers, for its shareholders and for its people, was around a very simple strategic belief. And that is that, our best option for creating long term value is to focus on very few capabilities and on using those capabilities as well as we possibly can, domestically in Australia, primarily; and as a part of a logical continuation of what we are doing outside Australia.In thinking through the capabilities which underpin our strategy, we really set ourselves two or three key criteria. Number one: we had to have confidence based on our track record that we were able to continue to strengthen the capabilities against a peer group that not only included our domestic competitors but as an institution with high aspiration, against a peer group that included banks around the world.And number two: we had to believe of course, there was further value in leveraging these capabilities as we built them to an even stronger level.And number three and critically: we had to believe that these capabilities -against the usual standard of sustainable, competitive advantage - are difficult to replicate. They are not based around pricing or branding or other decisions which can be changed overnight or in a month. They are based around capabilities which take years to build and years more to strengthen.And so our strategy, our direction over coming years is focused on three key capabilities. First, being world leading in the application of technology to financial services and products. Number two: having a vibrate and customer focused culture and people. And number three: having a strong and flexible balance sheet.And I'll talk first in turn about each of those capabilities.I'll then move to talk about how we can deploy those capabilities and really continue to deploy the capabilities to create growth. And whichever way you look at the strategy it is still primarily, and above all, an Australia story. We believe, given our franchise position, that we have the opportunity to create growth by identifying and meeting more of the needs of the customers in what we call the core franchise, the core retail