The Belgian-Dutch bank insurer Fortis is to sell off two of its divisions to raise money, reports ANP news agency on Thursday, quoting the Belgian paper De Standaard. Fortis has declined to comment.

Fortis is said to have commissioned US merchant bank Morgan Stanley to handle the transaction which is intended to generate €1.8bn.
Fortis needs cash to improve its capital reserves which have taken a bashing with its takeover of parts of Dutch bank ABN Amro and the worldwide credit crisis.
The units involved are Fortis Intertrust which manages capital for private and commercial customers and Prime Fund Solutions which handles the administration of funds for the bank’s merchant and private banking activities.