Bank of America puts non-US wealth unit up for sale

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has put its wealth management units outside the United States up for sale, three sources familiar with the situation said, hoping to bring in up to $3 billion for the sub-scale business. Bank of America is the world's largest wealth manager, but its non-US arm - which two of the sources said manages some $90 billion of assets for rich clients - is not large enough to generate enough money for the US bank.
"There is a lot of soul-searching going on by a lot of US players as to what to do with their non-US private banking operations," said a fourth person, an investment banker who has knowledge of the financial sector. Bank of America declined to comment. Bank of America's non-US private banking business targets so-called "mass affluent" clients whose wealth is measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars, the sources said, rather than super-rich private banking clients worth tens of millions. The bank had asked potential suitors to put in first-round bids this week, according to one of the three sources.