The UK bank has agreed to sell its offshore trusts and fiduciary businesses to an independent investor group.

Barclays is to sell the bulk of its interest in its offshore trust and fiduciary businesses to an independent investor group, the UK-listed bank confirmed to this publication after rumours of a potential sale.

The investor group that is slated to acquire the operation is backed by two families. One of its existing businesses is called Azure Trust, a Jersey-based trust and fiduciary business.

The offshore trust and fiduciary businesses are located in the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman Islands, Switzerland and Singapore.

A sale, if successfully completed, follows Barclays’ agreement last week to sell its Americas wealth and investment management division to Stifel Financial Corp.

“We can confirm that Barclays has agreed to sell its offshore trust and fiduciary businesses to an independent investor group, subject to regulatory approvals. The decision to sell has been in train for some time and is consistent with Barclays Wealth and Investment Management’s strategy to become a simpler and more focused business. Once the deal has been completed, Barclays will hold a minority stake in the new business,” the bank said in a statement.

“We believe the offshore trust and fiduciary businesses have significant potential and under the acquirer’s ownership our clients will benefit from the growth opportunity that this sale represents.”

This publication understands that Barclays will continue to provide trust services in its onshore locations.

There has been a trend of banks selling off all or part of their trust/fiduciary services arms in recent years, as these entities are no longer seen as providing sufficiently profitable business to justify what has become an often burdensome set of operations, particularly as compliance and regulatory costs have risen in recent years. Salamanca Group, a UK trust, investment banking and advisory firm, bought the trust and fiduciary arm of Investec in 2013, completing the deal in February. In 2013, Coutts sold some trust businesses to offshore specialist firm Appleby.