Ever since the great financial crisis, management at Morgan Stanley has laid out a vision to marry its fabled global investment bank to world-class wealth management and investment management businesses.
The aim is to reduce exposure to tail risks and draw more revenue and profit from low-capital consuming and stable fee-earning activities.
The first big push came in 2009 with the purchase from Citi of a majority stake in Smith Barney and its army of financial advisers. That led to a full takeover in 2012.
In 2020, the firm put on a second shove with two big strategic deals. In February, it announced the acquisition of E*Trade, an electronic brokerage that brings over 5.2 million self-directed customers. It completed that deal in October.
The firm then announced the acquisition of investment manager Eaton Vance, which adds another $500 billion of assets under management (AuM) to the $715 billion already at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM).
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