There's something polite about the big Australians' retreat from life insurance.
First it was Tower Australia, which sold the country's fourth biggest life insurer TAL to Japan's Dai-ichi Life in 2011, then National Australia Bank took its turn to review and later sell an 80 per cent stake in No.2 player MLC to Japan's Nippon Life Insurance.
Around the same time AMP was stitching up a quota share deal with Munich Re to reduce exposure its life unit, the country's biggest, before ANZ Banking Group launched an auction of its wealth business including OnePath Life, which is the Australia's fifth largest life insurer.
And by the time ANZ deal is done, Commonwealth Bank of Australia could be ready to sell its life insurer, the No.3 player locally.
As Street Talk revealed on Wednesday night, CBA is considering options for the group's life insurance business, valued at as much as $5 billion, and which could trigger a sale of the unit.
CBA has JPMorgan's bankers assisting with the review, which will explore the various potential deal structures as demonstrated by its rivals in recent years, including a full sale, partial sale or quota share deal.
Sources said JPMorgan was appointed last month, after CBA spoke to a small handful of investment banks about the lucrative sell-side mandate.
Any deal would complete a rare straight in Australian business. Life insurance has been particularly tough for Australia's banks and wealth managers in recent years, with claims experience hurting profits and regulatory issues to navigate.
Few would blame CBA boss Ian Narev and his recently appointed chief financial officer, Robert Jesudason, for considering their options.
CBA's life business has failed to garner the strong market share the bank expects from other major business units such as home loans, credit cards, household deposits and business banking. The unit had 11.4 per cent of the life insurance market as at June 30 last year, making a $255 million profit from $2.08 billion in net premium income.
Interestingly, it's not just the big players retreating from Australian life insurance.
Suncorp Group has its business - the country's 11th largest on PwC's numbers - under review, which is expected to lead to a sale process.
However, Suncorp seems to be happy to wait until the ANZ process wraps up, to ensure it better commands buyer attention. And they can only hope CBA will be so polite to wait its turn.
