UK-listed Standard Chartered is in talks to buy Morgan Stanley's Indian private wealth management unit, which manages about $1 billion including loans, Reuters reported, citing what it described as “two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.” The sources were not named.

Two Indian financial services companies have also shown interest in buying the wealth management business and a formal bidding process is expected to start soon, one of the sources said. The companies were not named.

Family Wealth Report contacted both Standard Chartered and Morgan Stanley. The US banking firm declined to comment; StanChart had not responded at the time of going to press.

This publication has heard a number of rumors from the wealth management industry that Morgan Stanley is looking to spin off some parts of its international (non-US) wealth operations, with various banks being named, although none has commented thus far when approached.

Meanwhile, last September Morgan Stanley bid goodbye to the Smith Barney name, as it re-branded its US brokerage as Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, a separate business from its international wealth management operation outside the US. The brand overhaul came after the two owners of the joint venture brokerage - Morgan Stanley and Citigroup - agreed on a purchase price that allows Morgan Stanley to take full control of it over time.