Standard Chartered Private Bank is looking to
sell its Latin American wealth operations, the latest in a spate of
sales as private banks look to shed non-core operations due to
tough trading conditions.
The operation was acquired by Standard
Chartered when it bought American Express Bank for about $860
million in 2008.
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The deal, according to Standard Chartered
executives at the time, was aimed at helping to “turbo-charge”
their recently-launched private bank business.
LGT and Investec lead wealth unit
sell-off
Standard Chartered’s sale comes as LGT Group
has put its 7-office German private banking business up for
sale.
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By GlobalDataInvestec, the Anglo-South African group, has
signalled it may sell its private banking unit in Switzerland.
RHJ International, owner of Britain’s
Kleinwort Benson, has emerged as a bidder for the BHF-Bank arm of Deutsche
Bank.
LatAm growth not at Asian
levels
Standard Chartered’s Latin American business,
comprising the client base and staff, centres on offshore Latin
business flowing into Miami as well as offshoots in Uruguay and
Chile.
“That offshore business has been under
regulatory pressure for sometime so Standard Chartered has found it
difficult to grow at the same pace as the Asian businesses,” one
banker familiar with the business said.
“Latin America is a geography the bank has
struggled in,” they said.
Standard Chartered said it was talking with
some interested parties but there are confidentiality agreements in
place and nothing was final. The spokesperson said a long,
drawn-out process was unlikely.
The bank declined to mention a price and said
if there was a sale, it would likely remain undisclosed.
No specific timeline for the sale was
given.
