QBE may place a bid for the Commonwealth Bank’s (CBA) general insurance arm if the lender decides to put the business up for sale.

CEO Pat Regan says he will not close the doors on opportunities that come along even as he remains focused on executing his plans to rejuvenate the insurer, which returned to the black last year with a $US390 million ($545 million) net profit after suffering a $US1.2 billion ($1.7 billion) loss in 2017.

“There is a scarcity of good assets out there,” Mr Regan was quoted as saying in The Australian today. “So if or when it comes to the market, perhaps we’ll have a look at it.

“There is a tonne of stuff to work on; that is our first priority.”

A QBE spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au today the insurer’s focus for the year is on “continuing to deliver against our strategic priorities, to drive performance across the group, and to continue to deliver value for our shareholders.”

IAG, Allianz and even China’s Ping An Insurance have been flagged in local media as potential suitors since CBA said last June that it would consider a possible sale of the business as part of a strategic review.

The business, which trades as CommInsure, delivered a 51% rise in income to $183 million in the last financial year, and cash profit almost doubled to $102 million.

“It’s not a bad business. I think the returns are pretty strong but it is a big acquisition for IAG and QBE,” Bell Potter Securities Head of Research and Insurance Analyst TS Lim told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“It’s not a small [acquisition]… it will be difficult to execute I think. They have to raise equity, the ROE will go down, it will be hard to convince a lot of people.

“Personally, I think they shouldn’t do it because there will be a lot of management distractions at a time when things are just getting better for them, so it’s the wrong time to do an acquisition.”