Commonwealth Bank is the latest financial institution to put its life insurance business up for sale.

The bank says it is in discussions with third parties about CommInsure.

It follows ANZ looking to divest OnePath and Suncorp weighing up Asteron’s future.

NAB has already sold the MLC life business to Nippon, and Sony is tipped to take control of ClearView. At present it has a minority shareholding.

Dai-ichi bought TAL a few years ago.

Commonwealth Bank says both Australian and New Zealand operations are involved in the talks with unnamed parties.

“While the discussions may lead to the divestment of those businesses, we will also consider a full range of alternatives, including retaining the businesses, reinsurance arrangements or other strategic options.”

Any sale would be a multibillion-dollar deal, meaning the buyer would be an overseas life insurance company. ANZ’s OnePath has been valued at more than $3.3 billion.

MetLife, Zurich, AIA, Prudential, Meiji Yasuda and Dai-ichi have all been tipped as potential CommInsure buyers.

As the two largest life insurers in Australia, it is unknown how Dai-ichi-owned TAL and AIA would square any takeover with regulators.

According to Strategic Insight, TAL had a 16.7% market share in Australia at the end of March, with AIA on 14.5%.

CommInsure’s share was 10.6% and OnePath 10.1%. MetLife and Zurich have market shares of about 4.1% and would still trail the leaders if either bought CommInsure.

If OnePath and CommInsure are sold to overseas interests, it will leave only one Australian-owned life insurer in the market, AMP.

One possible loser in the corporate shake-up is Suncorp, which is trying to sell a small business in a market featuring more attractive offerings.