After snapping up the Asian wealth units of Societe Generale and ING respectively it appears that Singapore's DBS Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp could be back in the market for another western European private banking business.
The obsolete «Imperialist Banking» model is beginning to look like it has run its course as the European based banks with no scalability and tepid commitment to the Asian region begin to retract back to their home markets.
According to a Reuters report Singapore's DBS Group and Oversea-Chinese Banking as well as Swiss bank Julius Baer have submitted non-binding bids for Barclays' Asian private wealth business.
Credit Suisse was also weighing a bid for Barclays' wealth unit, but it wasn't immediately clear if the Swiss bank had submitted an offer. However with their own share price at a 27 year low they may not have much room for negotiation.
A spokesperson of from Julius Baer in Zurich said to finews.asia on Friday: «We do not comment market rumours. But it is known, that we are interested in acquisitions.»
Restructuring of Asian Business
First-round bids for the Singapore-based unit, which bankers value at around $600 million, were submitted last week, said the people, who declined to be identified because the deal talks are confidential.
The sale is part of a restructuring drive under Barclays new Chief Executive Jes Staley and comes as several European banks rethink their Asian strategy due to pressure at home to cut costs. Barclays managed $36 billion in private banking assets in Asia as of last year.
