The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price has dipped into the red today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) bank stock closed yesterday trading for $166.72. At the time of writing in late morning trade on Friday, shares are changing hands for $166.35 apiece, down 0.2%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is up 0.8% at this same time.
The CBA share price is trailing the benchmark today despite some big news out of New South Wales.
Here's what's happening.
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CBA inks agreement with New South Wales government
This morning, CBA revealed that it has been selected by New South Wales to provide state government banking services.
While that announcement hasn't provided a boost for the CBA share price today, CommBank said that moving forward it will deliver liquidity management, transaction banking, merchant acquiring, FX, cross-border payments, and transit payments services as part of the agreement.
The intention is to increase efficiency and make transacting with the NSW government "seamless" for state residents.
As part of the partnership, CBA said it will deliver benefits to NSW communities, including investments to support small business, innovation, and data insights.
On the data insights front, the bank noted that around 40% of all payments across Australia are processed through CBA's network.
Australia's biggest bank will also bring its technological know-how to the state government, including its responsible AI capabilities, specialised government payment solutions, and merchant technologies.
What did management say?
Commenting on the state government partnership that could offer some support for the CBA share price longer-term, Sinead Taylor, incoming CBA group executive, institutional banking and markets, said:
We are thrilled to have been given the opportunity by the New South Wales government to harness our scale, digital innovation and government credentials to support a thriving, resilient and sustainable New South Wales.
CBA is at the forefront of payments modernisation and our secure, resilient and innovative payments technologies, combined with our sophisticated scams and fraud mitigation tools, will drive efficiencies and deliver a better experience for people across the state.
The New South Wales government and CBA have a history of working together to drive innovation, with our long-standing partnership with Transport for NSW as just one example, and we look forward to broadening our partnership to benefit the people, businesses and communities of New South Wales.
CBA share price snapshot
Today's small dip aside, the CBA stock has strongly outperformed the benchmark over the past 12-plus months.
CommBank stock is up 45.8% since this time last year, not including dividends.
Investors who bought the ASX 200 bank stock on 27 October 2023, less than 16 months ago, will have watched the CBA share price surge 70.0% since then.
