The Commonwealth Bank has replaced its CEO with the former leader of its most scandal-plagued division.

CBA has announced the appointment of its new CEO - Matt Comyn – amid deep reputational damage and a looming banking royal commission.

Mr Comyn is a 20-year CBA veteran, currently working at the head of the bank’s retailing banking arm, where has been responsibility for the rollout of the ATMs that may have led to 53,000 breaches of money-laundering laws.

Former CBA CEO Ian Narev announced his retirement amid a series of scandals related to insurance incentives, dubious financial advice and failure of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism funding (AMLCTF) monitoring and reporting.

The bank’s board had earlier claimed to be conducting an international search for Mr Narev’s replacement, but it seems the best candidate was just down the hall.

Mr Cormyn will attempt to steer the ship through troubled waters for a base pay of $2.2 million a year, short-term incentives of up to $2.2 million and long-term incentives of $4 million on offer.

“His mandate is to continue to make the necessary changes to ensure CBA remains a leading bank with an unwavering focus on its customers and delivering outcomes for our shareholders, while achieving the highest operational standards unequivocally fulfilling our regulatory responsibilities,” CBA chair Catherine Livingstone said in a statement to the ASX.

“Matt's appointment will enable a smooth transition to new leadership, as CBA responds to the current regulatory processes and legal proceedings, accelerating the related changes and improvements already underway.”

One of his first jobs was to outline the bank’s submission to the royal commission this week.

He pledged a high level of transparency in the legal and regulatory questions the bank will face in the royal commission, a separate inquiry by banking regular APRA, and civil proceedings by AUSTRAC.

Commonwealth Bank will unveil profit figures forecast to be in excess of $5.2 billion next week, which would put it well on pace for a full year profit of over $10 billion.