(Updates with earnings details, background on other banks)...

(Updates with earnings details, background on other banks)

SYDNEY, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) (ANZ) missed expectations with a 18 percent fall in annual cash profit and said it would look to sell its Australian life insurance, advice and investments business following a strategic review.

Australia's third-largest bank by market value is the second of three of the "Big Four" banks reporting results for the year ended Sept. 30. National Australia Bank (NAB) (NAB) last week posted a 2 percent rise in cash earnings.

ANZ reported a cash profit of A$5.9 billion ($4.52 billion)for the year ended Sept. 30 on Thursday, down from A$7.2 billion a year earlier. The cash profit figure excludes one-offs and non-cash accounting items.

The result was below an average estimate of a 15 percent fall in cash profit from 16 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Bad debt charges rose for the fourth half-year period in a row, totalling A$1.96 billion for the year, up 62 percent from the year before.

ANZ said stress had largely passed through its institutional division, but there was weakness in the commercial and retail sector, with provision charges expected to remain steady this financial year.

It said it would look to sell its Australian life insurance, advice and investments business at a time when rivals NAB and Macquarie Group (MQG) have divested insurance assets to free up capital and boost returns.

ANZ on Monday announced the sale of its retail and wealth business in five Asian countries to Singapore's DBS Group for S$110 million ($79.07 million), the first significant retreat from Asia for the Australian bank most exposed to the region. ($1 = 1.3063 Australian dollars)