Morgan Stanley has put its private banking business in Spain up for sale with a price tag of up to €800m ($1.2bn). The move is the latest sign that the US financial group is concentrating on super-wealthy clients. Morgan Stanley has received expressions of interest from a range of Spanish and European lenders for the business, which has 29 branches and about €8bn in assets under management, say people close to the process. Among these is understood to be BNP of France. In Spain, BBVA and La Caixa have been mentioned as candidates, although both declined to comment. The process is at a reasonably advanced stage, but the winning bidder is unlikely to be chosen until early next year.
