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Standard Chartered’s private banking business had frequently been mentioned as an option for Credit Suisse to buy. CEO Bill Winters has now taken a firm stance on the issue – at a conference hosted by the Swiss bank, of all places.

Standard Chartered, the U.K. bank with its strong business in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, isn’t for sale and speculation to that end are entirely false. These were the words of its CEO, Bill Winters, at an investor conference of Credit Suisse in Hong Kong this week.

The Swiss bank repeatedly was mentioned as a potential buyer of the rival bank. The private banking business with some $60 billion in assets under management would have given the Asian division of Credit Suisse a welcome boost.

Not the Swiss, and Not the Chinese Either

It’s not going to happen though, as Winter pointed out. A sale to a Chinese bank is also not an option, he added. His bank is only just embarking on a restructuring program that will take years to complete and cost billions. The company had slipped into the red following the financial crisis and was saved by the British taxpayers.

Winters wants to put the bank back on track and increase the company’s share price. To sell parts or all of the business now would be a big shame, the banker said. Winters took over at the helm of the bank in 2015 after a career spanning 26 years at U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan. He fell out with Jamie Dimon, who he was long rumored to be in line to replace, and left the U.S. bank suddenly in 2009.

At one time, he reportedly was in the running as CEO of UBS, but Swiss banker Sergio Ermotti eventually was appointed.