BNY Mellon, a US-based investment management and investment services firm, is reportedly looking to sell its corporate trust business, in a bid to boost profitability.

BNY Mellon HQ

Unnamed sources familiar with the matter were quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the company is already contacting potential buyers and is expected to start soliciting bids within a month.

Another source said the bank has hired Goldman Sachs Group to find potential buyers for the division that could bring as much as $2.5bn.

Employing 3,500 people and with 61 offices worldwide, the corporate trust division provides administration and management services for the major categories of conventional, structured finance and specialty debt, according to the company.

The business, which services approximately $12trn in total outstanding debt for its clients, including United Technologies, and Volkswagen Financial Services, among others, was generating less profits since the credit crisis.

Guggenheim Securities analyst Marty Mosby was quoted by the news agency as saying that the division could attract interest from large commercial banks that are already involved in corporate trust or interested in expanding into the market, such as Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo, and PNC Financial Services Group.

"It is a very stable business, there is not a lot of real risk to it," Mosby added.

Meanwhile, BNY Mellon spokesman Kevin Heine and Goldman Sachs spokesman Andrew Williams, declined to comment on the report.

Apart from corporate trust business, the New York-based bank, which sold its Mexican operations to CIBanco in 2013, also plans to sell its Wall Street headquarters, as it prepares to cut down its office space.

Image: BNY Mellon also plans to sell its headquarters at 1 Wall Street, US. Photo: Jim in Times Square.