The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has underlined the growing toll cost-of-living pressures have taken on borrowers, citing 132,000 support packages offered to customers in the last year amid “very challenging” conditions for households.

At CBA’s annual shareholder meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday, the country’s biggest bank pointed to the uptick in customer hardship across the banking industry, with Australians squeezed by high interest rates and inflation.

When asked if CBA would slightly lower home interest rates to assist with the recovery of the economy, chair Paul O’Malley said: “The bank is doing a lot more today than say, it did 10 or 20 years ago, in supporting customers through hardship.

“We’re seeing customers reaching out and asking for help. We think the best way to support customers is through a conversation … to help them get through what might be some short or longer-term difficult times.”

CBA’s latest results in August said it had offered the 132,000 support packages through loan deferrals and repayment pauses.

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Banks have reported rising mortgage arrears this year, following the Reserve Bank’s raising of the cash rate from 0.1 per cent to 4.35 per cent since May 2022.

O’Malley highlighted the lessons from the pandemic, when banks threw many struggling households a lifeline by pausing repayments.

“I think we learned a lot working collaboratively with customers, regulators and governments during COVID when so many people could not work, could not service their home loans,” he said.