Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reportedly is considering its options, including a possible outright sale, for its private Swiss private banking business. The private bank has about 10 billion Swiss francs, or near $11.3 billion, in assets under management. Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Last March, Morgan Stanley sold most of its wealth management business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to Credit Suisse Group A.G. (NYSE: CS). At the time, that business had some $13 billion in assets under management. The Swiss business was not part of that deal.

Last month, British bank Standard Chartered revealed that it was preparing a sale of its Swiss private bank as part of an effort to reduce its noncore operations. Other international banks have also offloaded their Swiss operations, either to raise funds or because private banking is no longer core to their operations.

Shares of Morgan Stanley were up about 2.5% in morning trading Wednesday, at $31.81 in a 52-week range of $20.16 to $33.52. Other big U.S. banks were up as well, but by less than 2%.

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