Speculation continues around suitors for the Asian private banking arm of Barclays, but the firms in question are keeping silent.

A raft of banks reported to be bidding for the Asian private banking arm of UK-listed Barclays were tight-lipped on the matter late last week.

DBS and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp as well as Julius Baer have submitted non-binding bids for the business, according to Reuters, citing unnamed sources. Barclays and the other banks did not comment.

There have already been media reports, on which Barclays has declined to comment, that the bank is looking to offload its Asian private bank, a move which would mirror a decision earlier in the decade by Societe Generale to sell its Singapore-headquartered private bank. 

Barclays, along with many peers, is seeking to focus on areas where it thinks it can attain critical mass and boost profitability. Some banks have found it more challenging than expected to make sufficient profits in Asia, despite the rapid growth of wealth in that region. If a deal goes ahead it will add to a series of mergers and acquisitions in global wealth management, as firms have cut booking centres and spun off non-core units, while others, such as DBS and Julius Baer, have added teams and assets under management.

First-round bids for the Singapore-based unit, which bankers value at around $600 million, have been submitted, the news service said.