KEYNOTES

Stephen Halmarick

Chief Economist and Head of Global Economic & Markets Research at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA)

Thursday 23rd May - Keynote - Opening Plenary

9:00 AM | Adapting to the Evolving Economy: 2024 Outlook

CBA is the largest financial services company in Australia. Stephen was appointed to the Chief Economist role in April 2020 - having been the Head of the Global Economic & Markets Research team since January 2018. As Chief Economist and Head of Global Economic & Markets Research, Stephen is responsible for the team of economists that cover Australian Economics, International Economics, Foreign Exchange, Mining, Energy and Agricultural Commodities and Sustainable Economics research. Stephen and his team work to ensure that customers and clients are well informed and have a strong understanding of key macroeconomic factors in Australia and globally and their impact on select financial markets. Stephen is also the key spokesperson to clients and media on macroeconomic themes and a broad range of financial market issues. The Global Economic & Markets Research team produces a number of economic publications. These include short research notes on economic and market developments, presentation packs, longer thought leadership pieces on key structural issues, and a number of regular reports on key countries and regions of the global economy. The team also regularly appears in public forums and holds meeting with key clients both in Australia and globally. 

Publishing research on key Sustainable Economic issues in to is increasingly an area of focus.Stephen has over 38 years’ experience as a financial markets economist and is widely regarded as one of the best economic communicators and presenters in Australia. Prior to his role in CBA, Stephen was Chief Economist for Colonial First State Global Asset Management from March 2009 to September 2017. Earlier in his career, Stephen worked for Westpac, SBC Australia, the Nomura Research Institute and from 1994-2009 the Salomon Smith Barney Citibank group, where he was the Managing Director Co-Head of Economic and Market Analysis. Stephen holds a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University, a graduate diploma from the Securities Institute of Australia (SIA) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), and Stephen is also AFMA accredited. Stephen was Chairman of the Australian Business Economists (ABE) – the peak professional body for financial market economists in Australia from 2008-2017 and has been on the ABE Executive Committee for over 25 years. He is a Life Member of the ABE. In March 2016 Stephen was elected as a Member Director on the Commonwealth Bank Group Staff Superannuation Fund Board. He was re-elected to this position in November 2019 and granted an extension in November 2023. Stephen lives in Sydney with his wife – and their ‘blended’ family of six children.