In Brief: B of A Selling Foreign Private Bank to UBS

BankAmerica Corp. has agreed to sell its international private banking business to UBS, the companies said Thursday.

"We have decided to focus our resources on markets where we have sufficient volume and size to be a major player," said Stanley Savage, head of international private banking for BankAmerica.

The deal is expected to close this quarter, pending regulatory approvals. The price was not disclosed.

The international operation, with customer balances exceeding $6 billion, is a relatively small part of BankAmerica's private bank, which manages $120 billion of assets, has $17 billion of loans, and $13 billion of deposits.

It began international private banking activities 17 years ago and has a staff of 150 in Grand Cayman, Geneva, Hong Kong, Jersey, London, Manila, and Singapore. UBS agreed to integrate these BankAmerica employees. BankAmerica will retain its Cayman trust company.

UBS' private bank's portfolio exceeds $500 billion.

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