US Trust, the New York-based private client business owned by Charles Schwab, is rumoured to be up for sale. Reports circulating in the US m...

US Trust, the New York-based private client business owned by Charles Schwab, is rumoured to be up for sale. Reports circulating in the US media suggest Charles Schwab is keen to sell the private client business it bought in 2000 in an effort to raise money for its struggling discount brokerage business. The company could fetch about $2 billion by selling its US Trust unit. Schwab has never managed to integrate US Trust into its brokerage business, despite its original intention. The original idea was to "migrate" up brokerage customers once they accumulated enough assets to qualify for US Trust's private banking service offerings. Merrill Lynch has been mentioned as a possible buyer of US Trust, although no formal offer has been made. Schwab is also been linked to acquisition talks with E*Trade Financial, the discount brokerage. Last May US Trust appointed the ex-head of private banking at Citigroup, Peter Scaturro as its new chief executive.