This comes after speculation about a sale of BHF Bank, which is part of Deutsche since the German banking giant acquired Sal Oppenheim, has greatly increased. Media reports suggest that possible buyers will receive an information memo from Deutsche in the next few days.

Although Deutsche and BHF Bank would not comment on whether or not BHF Bank will be put up for sale, rumours about such a deal have been around for a long time, first surfacing even before Deutsche officially concluded its acquisition of Sal Oppenheim, the former parent company of BHF Bank, in March this year.

Nevertheless, Handelsblatt, a German business daily, has reported that Deutsche will inform possible buyers in the next few days about the state of the institution.

Liechtenstein’s LGT Group is said to be rather interested in buying the bank, which has 12 branches in Germany in addition to six international offices and €43 billion (around $52.9 billion) assets under management, while employing 2,100 staff.

LGT told WealthBriefing: “As part of our international growth strategy, we focus primarily on organic growth. the exceptional equity base and financial stability of LGT Group allow further acquisitions, and we will examine such possibilities carefully.”

The group added that any such new acquisition must strategically fit into the family-owned private bank’s culture. It did not wish to make any more precise comments about interest in BHF Bank.

Other possible buyers include France’s BNP Paribas, and Santander of Spain according to Handelsblatt. There is also a chance that a financial institution from China might step in and buy the private bank that was founded in 1854.

Earlier this year, Bank Sarasin, the Basel-headquartered private bank, was also rumoured to be interested in BHF Bank. However, Sarasin told this publication that it is not interested in the German bank as BHF Bank is not an exclusive private bank; in addition to private banking, BHF Bank also offers universal banking services, something Sarasin is not interested in.

There has also been speculation about Sweden’s Handelsbanken being interested in buying BHF Bank. While the Scandinavian banking group did not comment, a person familiar with the situation told this publication that this is very unlikely, as Handelsbanken focuses to a large extent on organic growth or small acquisitions. In addition, the bank is focusing on expanding its retail business in the UK at the moment, and not acquisitions in Germany.

BHF Bank will not be sold to a direct competitor of Deutsche, Handeslblatt said. Further, Deutsche hopes to sell it as a whole and does not plan to split it up.

Deutsche Bank’s acquisition of Sal Oppenheim, the Luxembourg and Cologne-based private bank, was formally completed in March this year. Deutsche paid €1 billion (around $1.4 billion at the time) for the sale, which included the acquisition of Sal Oppenheim’s subsidiary BHF Bank.

Deutsche first announced the acquisition of the private bank and investment firm in October in 2009.