(Reuters) -Wells Fargo ( WFC ) is set to sell its San Francisco headquarters, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, as the U.S. banking giant shifts its focus to the country's East Coast.

The lender has already started to engage in informal conversations with potential buyers and its office in the city's financial district could be put on the market as soon as this month, the report added citing people familiar with the matter.

Wells Fargo ( WFC ) has hired the real-estate investment bank Eastdil Secured, which it sold in 2019 and still owns a minority stake in, as an adviser, the Journal's report said.

"As part of our multi-year effort to build a stronger, more efficient Wells Fargo ( WFC ), we continually assess our real estate portfolio," a spokesperson for the lender said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Wells Fargo ( WFC ) added it has done business in San Francisco since 1852, and "the city remains important to the bank".