Shares of wealth manager Quilter rose 15% on Monday after weekend reports in London newspapers that NatWest-RBS is considering making a bid to buy the listed firm.

Quilter has about £110 billon in assets under management and a current stock market value of around £1.7 billion.

Quilter’s shares remain down about 37% for the past 12 months.

NatWest last Friday its operating profit before tax rose 13% to £2.6 billion for the six months to June 30, 2022, ahead of analyst forecasts.

NatWest said it would pay an interim dividend of 3.5p per share and a special dividend “with share consolidation” of £1.75 billion, equivalent to 16.8p per share.

The bank said customer deposits increased £14.8 billion in the first half to £476.2 billon.