Britain's largest insurer Lloyds has begun a systematic review of its life insurance operations, which could well see the company streamline its operations.

Last years takeover of the troubled banking giant HBOS gave Lloyds a number of life insurance arms and it is thought that due to restructuring the bank is looking to sell on at least one. According to analysts Scottish Widows could well be up for grabs at the end of the review.

Lloyds have hired Deutsche Bank to conduct the analysis after a long selection process.

The government backed bank said that it needed to make substantial savings by 2011 and it appears that the overlapping insurance arms, including Clerical Medical and Halifax Life Insurance could make up a substantial portion of that.

Current economic conditions are a worry for the company though, with other sales within the sector failing to draw interest from buyers.