National Australia Bank has agreed to buy Aviva's Australian wealth management and insurance businesses for A$825 million(around $660 million), media reports said, in a deal that follows recent moves by the Australian lender to raise the profile of its wealth management business division.

The purchase is expected to add to earnings per share and return on equity in its first full year after acquisition, excluding estimated integration costs, the bank was reported as saying.

WealthBriefing contacted the bank about its reported move but had not received a reply at the time of publication.

The transaction adds to a run of merger and acquisition deals in financial services this year; earlier in June, Barclays, the UK bank, agreed to sell its US-based Barclays Global Investors asset management business to BlackRock, the US asset management firm, in a deal creating the largest company of its kind in terms of assets.

Before completion, Aviva's Australia unit will pay a $40 million dividend and will also pay a net asset adjustment of $60 million after the deal is completed. NAB will acquire all shares in Aviva Australia Holdings, which includes Norwich Union life insurance, Navigator investment platform operations and strategic stakes in four independent financial advisory firms.

NAB started its private bank as a division within business banking earlier this decade. A few years later, NAB has moved the private bank to its wealth management division as part of a change in strategy.

In late May this year, National Australia Bank, announced it was creating a new wealth services division, MLC & NAB Wealth, with the private banking business sitting within it. MLC is one of Australia’s top-ranked fund managers and pension providers, with a long history well before it became a subsidiary of NAB.