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Morgan Stanley Weighs Sale Of Swiss Private Bank, Report Claims

Tom Burroughes

5 March 2014

Morgan Stanley declined to comment to Family Wealth Report today on a newswire report that it is thinking of selling its Swiss private bank that manages around SFr10 billion of assets.

The bank is examining several options, including that of a sale, Reuters said, quoting an unnamed source.

The US-headquartered firm agreed last year to sell its Europe, Middle East and Africa wealth management business to Credit Suisse. That unit oversaw $13 billion of assets. The move had certain parallels with the sale, by Bank of America, of its non-US wealth management arm to Switzerland’s Julius Baer.

With Swiss bank secrecy coming under constant pressure, and firms looking to exit markets where they think they lack critical mass, a number of such M&A deals have taken place in recent months.