Sure there were some soft spots in the result. Business banking, for example, remains tough across the industry. Meanwhile the tailwind provided by falling loan impairment expenses is easing, and competition is increasing for lending and deposits. But there are no obvious significant negatives around the corner.

The bigger issue for the Commonwealth and the other banks is that investors have funnelled so much of their superannuation into these stocks in search of a yield that their valuations have become stretched.

They risk becoming victims of their own success.

Having said that some of this concern about future earnings is understandable, given growth in the second half of the financial year was not as strong as the first six months. While the bank explained that a couple of adjustments needed to be made to iron out comparative irregularities that could effectively boost the second-half performance, the fact remained that the growth trajectory levelled out somewhat as the year progressed.

But CBA boss Ian Narev was at pains to point out there is opportunity to grow in the Australian market if the economy picks up. Narev is not anticipating a wild improvement in conditions, but says he is cautiously positive about the outlook for the 2015 financial year.

In particular business credit and deposits presented an opportunity to improve. But precisely when business regains the confidence to spend (and therefore borrow) is a matter for conjecture.

Narev reckons the lack of certainty in Canberra around the budget and the continued adversarial parliamentary setting isn’t helping. But he was not about to take sides other than to say that the government’s attempts to regain more conservative budgetary settings is appropriate.

At a global level the potential headwinds remain around the potential for interest rates to increase in some jurisdictions, like the US, while other countries, particularly in Europe, will continue to see downward pressure on interests rates. Such an outcome could result in increased volatility.

But Narev sees the glass as half-full.

"If the stability in global markets continues, gradual increases in consumer spending and demand for credit from businesses over the next year are likely as long as budget discussions are progressed and there is a clear understanding of Australia’s medium to long-term economic direction."

Narev’s other profit improvement lever will be to further reduce costs and enhance productivity.

The Commonwealth experienced very solid growth in lending in 2014 and either improved or held market share across most segments, but with interest rates still at record lows there is plenty of room for credit to grow further in 2015 - particularly if consumer confidence stages any kind of further recovery.

Indeed the bank delivered a result that was completely in line with analyst expectations, improved the cost-to-income ratio and retained interest margins even in the face of cutting interest rates on home loans.

There had been fears the Commonwealth might have become a little conservative on dividends in the face of having to retain larger regulatory capital buffers but it kept the dividend payout ratio constant at around 75 per cent. In other words three quarters of its profit was paid back to shareholders.

As for the financial advice scandal that has engulfed the bank, this will be a slow burn issue whose ultimate impacts may not be known for years.

The division that houses financial advice, Wealth Management, grew its earnings by an impressive 17 per cent, suggesting there has yet been no adverse financial consequence from the poor treatment of some of this division's customers.

Reputational issues, however, can take a longer period to filter to the bottom line. They can ultimately result in placing financial pressure on companies through increased regulation brought about as the result of a public backlash.

This is why the Commonwealth Bank’s tardiness in addressing these issues when they first came to light was such a strategic blunder. The recent mea culpas and actions would have had much more reputational currency a year ago.

It perhaps explains why Narev was loath to buy into debate started by Treasurer Joe Hockey, around why big business was not sufficiently supportive of government.

He also steered clear of taking a swipe at the observations produced by the first-round report from David Murray’s financial services inquiry. The banking industry is fuming about suggestions that banks made need to hold additional regulatory capital in order to ward against the potential of having to be bailed out by taxpayers on the basis that they are too big to fail.

He left others, like ANZ’s Mike Smith, to step into the ring.