With Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Westpac looking to sell their respective general insurance (GI) arms, could both businesses possibly be sold to one major Australian insurer? If a piece by The Australian is anything to go by, the scenario doesn’t seem too far-off.
Citing unnamed sources, the publication said Sydney-headquartered QBE Insurance Group is pursuing the banks’ GI operations. That of Westpac was valued in the report at around $700 million, while CBA’s GI segment was recently estimated to be worth roughly $500 million.
Meanwhile the newspaper also suggested that a double swoop by QBE might be less objectionable in the eyes of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission than if it were a more locally-focussed peer acquiring the businesses.
Both CBA and Westpac are offloading part of their non-banking operations in a bid to zero in on the companies’ core offering.
