Australia’sCommonwealth Bank is in the running to buy a sizeable part of Lloyds Banking Group's fund management arm for £200 million ($327 million) to £300 million, media reports said.

CBA is one of several parties casting an eye over Insight Investment Management's £75 billion, third-party fund business ahead of this week's deadline for first-round bids, reports said.

Lloyds, which includes a private banking operation, bought HBOS, the UK-listed bank that owned Insight, last year. The UK government has strengthened Lloyds’ balance sheet by injecting billions of pounds into the banking group.