Standard Chartered is in talks to buy Morgan Stanley's Indian private wealth management unit, which manages about $1 billion including loans, Reuters has reported.

The Indian wealth arm, which was put up for sale by Morgan Stanley last November, has also sparked interest from “a couple of Indian financial service companies”, the publication said, citing two unmade sources, with direct knowledge of the situation. It added that a formal bidding process is expected to start soon.

“Wealth management platforms are usually sold for about 2 to 3 per cent of the assets under management, although the sources [at the time] said it was not yet clear what price tag the unit could fetch,” the news service said, when it first reported on the sale in November.

According to reports, the sale is a product of Morgan Stanley’s efforts to withdraw from sub-scale wealth management operations globally.

Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered declined to comment when contacted by WealthBriefingAsia.

The US firm first opened its private banking business in India in late 2008, marking its first onshore wealth business in Asia, and reportedly has a team of 70.