US investment bank Morgan Stanley is negotiating the sale of its Madrid-based private banking unit in Spain, according to a report in Spanish newspaper La Razon.

Morgan Stanley declined to comment on the report, but a decision to sell would be in line with the Wall Street bank’s strategy of offloading its mass affluent businesses in order to concentrate on clients with net worth of more than $10 million for its expansion outside the US.

Last December, it agreed to sell Quilter, its UK-based wealth manager with funds under management of £5.3 billion ($9.9 billion), to Citigroup. With a minimum investible assets size of £3 million, Quilter was never core to the strategy and was always referred to as a stand-alone business.

La Razon said Morgan Stanley's Spanish wealth management business, one of five areas of operation in Spain, had nearly €7 billion ($10.3 billion) under management.

Possible bidders include Spain's BBVA and private savings banks La Caixa and Caja Madrid, though the sale was still at a preliminary stage, the newspaper said. A fourth bank dropped out of the running a week ago, La Razon added.

Morgan Stanley began its institutional business in Spain in 1987 and in 1993 established a representative office in Madrid which became Morgan Stanley (Spain) in 1998. The following year, it acquired AB Asesores, the largest independent financial services firm in Spain, with an extensive office network that made it one of the leading private wealth management firms in the country.