Disposal of the business is part of the nationalized lender’s restructure plan, which will also provide required funding to strengthen its capital ratios, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Madrid-headquartered Bankia, which was previously called Caja Madrid, purchased 83% shareholding in the Florida-based bank for $927m in 2008 and the remaining stake later.

The European Union, which bailed out the bank during the financial crisis, forced the bank to sell unprofitable assets as well as restructure the business and pay back to the creditors.

With $4.74bn in assets, City National Bank has more than 400 employees and 26 branches in the US.

Bankia was established through a merger of several Spanish financial institutions which suffered huge losses when booming reality sector of Spain collapsed during 2008.