Once seen as a must-have accessory for any self-respecting big bank, asset managers are being dumped like they’re going out of fashion. With banking profits depressed by ultra-low interest rates you might imagine they would be desperate to hang on to anything that would brighten up their earnings. Yet the sales are coming thick and fast.

The latest is Bank of Montreal’s disposal of its BMO Global Asset Management unit’s European business for £615m to Columbia Threadneedle’s parent Ameriprise. This follows the news that Societe Generale is in talks to sell most of its Lyxor business to Amundi for €825m. And only a few weeks ago, US bank Wells Fargo said it was raising $2.1bn from the sale of its $600bn asset manager to private equity.