China’s Bank of Communications has received approval from Chinese regulators to buy a 51% stake in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s insurance joint venture in China.

China Life Insurance, which owns a 40% share of the country’s life insurance market, plans to sell its entire stake to the bank to eliminate “internal competition”.

The Commonwealth Bank owns 49% of the venture.

The acquisition will make the Bank of Communications the first Chinese domestic bank to become a shareholder of an insurance company.

The insurance company plan “is an important step in the efforts of the Bank of Communications to establish as a financial conglomerate”, it said in a statement.

It has not disclosed the amount it has paid for the majority stake.