Good evening,

Westpac’s asset sale spree is gaining momentum.

With bids just about due for its Pacific operations, Street Talk has revealed the bank is also in talks to sell its general insurance arm to global giant Allianz.

Helped along by JPMorgan's bankers, Westpac is believed to be eyeing north of $500 million for the unit.

It’s further proof chief executive Peter King wasn’t mucking around when he put a bunch of business units into the new specialist businesses bucket and stamped them for review.

Elsewhere, we reveal listed fund manager Challenger's plans to shut its asset-backed financier 255 Financeand the thinking behind it.

And PEXA is back in front of the big banks asking them for money.

Happy reading,

Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd

Street Talk Editors