If you’re a bank, wealth management is where it’s at these days. Capital markets and insurance and even plain-vanilla retail lending may have their appeal, but if you want a dependable, stable revenue flow that doesn’t require you to put up a ton of capital, it’s tough to beat the business of managing other people’s money. That in a nutshell is the rational behind Bank of Montreal’s proposed acquisition of U.K.-based F&C Asset Management Plc, for about $1.3-billion in cash. The disclosure was made in a regulatory filing by F&C on Monday. According to the firm, which has £90-billion of assets under management, negotiations around a possible deal are at an “advanced” stage, and its board of directors has told BMO that it is “likely to recommend” the offer. Paul Deegan, a spokesman for BMO, declined to discuss the matter. However Mr. Deegan said in an emailed statement that “the announcement was put out with our consent in accordance with U.K. regulatory requirements. The manager of one of Britain’s oldest investment funds, F&C began life back in 1868 as an investment vehicle that aimed to allow investors of “moderate means” to benefit from the expertise of the sort of professional money managers who up to that point were accessible only by large companies and the wealthy.

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