King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has advised Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp on the A$900 million ($660 million) sale of its domestic life insurance unit to Japan's Dai-ichi Life Holdings.

The deal underlines a rapid exit by Australian lenders from areas considered to be outside their core-banking operations, following increased regulatory scrutiny since a 2018 government-backed inquiry, said Reuters. It added that companies including Macquarie Group, insurer Suncorp Group and wealth manager AMP have cut their exposure to insurance in the last five years.

The KWM team was led by M&A partner Meredith Paynter, with support from partners Jim Boynton, Nicole Heller, Sarah Yu, Wayne Leach, Peter Yeldham, Liam Burgess and Tim Bednall.

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