Commonwealth Bank of Australia said it had held talks with Suncorp-Metway, the Australian group that has put the country’s sixth-largest bank on the auction block, after announcing it would pay just A$2.1bn ($1.4bn) to acquire BankWest from the UK’s HBOS.

The fire-sale price of BankWest, which was below its net asset value, together with the auction of Metway bank, underlines the opportunities available to well capitalised banks to seize assets from distressed sellers.