Hong Kong-based Jardine Fleming Bank is reported to be up for sale, four months after the merger of its parent JP Morgan Chase.
Company insiders yesterday said sale talks were held with a number of unnamed investors as Jardine Fleming Bank did not fit in the merged group.
Last September, JP Morgan merged with the United States' third-largest bank holding company Chase in a US$34.5 billion deal that created a corporate finance and investment banking powerhouse.
A source familiar with the situation said Jardine Fleming Bank was a boutique operation that did not make up a large part of the Chase group, let alone the JP Morgan Chase group.
Jardine Fleming Bank chief executive Robert Herries would not comment on the rumoured sale yesterday.
'It was assumed that there would be a parting of ways at some point,' the source said of Jardine Fleming Bank and Chase.