BofA put its wealth management unit outside the US up for sale in April. The business, which manages an estimated $90bn for clients, was not generating sufficient profit.

Credit Suisse and Royal Bank of Canada were also in contention for initial bids for the business, according to Reuters.

Julius Baer had been looking to make acquisitions since November, when it missed the chance to buy majority stakes in Swiss group Sarasin, which ended up in the hands of Brazilian-Swiss private bank Safra.

It has been speculated that a BofA deal would be the biggest in the wealth management industry since Julius Baer and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp bought ING for a total of $1.9bn in 2010.