Morgan Stanley[4] is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Morgan Stanley is a financial services corporation that, through its affiliates and subsidiaries, advises, and originates, trades, manages, and distributes capital for institutions, governments, and individuals.

Future president and chairman Dick Fisher contributed to the computer model as a young employee, learning the Fortran and COBOL programming languages at IBM.

[11][12] The merged firm began expanding overseas operations: in 1999, Mack set up a joint venture in India with local partner JM Financial.

[citation needed] The firm lost 13 employees during the September 11 attacks in 2001[28] (Thomas F. Swift, Wesley Mercer, Jennifer de Jesus, Joseph DiPilato, Nolbert Salomon, Godwin Forde, Steve R. Strauss, Lindsay C. Herkness, Albert Joseph, Jorge Velazquez, Titus Davidson, Charles Laurencin and Security Director Rick Rescorla) in the towers, while 2,687 were successfully evacuated by Rick Rescorla.

[45] To cope with the write-downs during the subprime mortgage crisis, Morgan Stanley announced on December 19, 2007, that it would receive a US$5 billion capital infusion from the China Investment Corporation in exchange for securities that would be convertible to 9.9% of its shares in 2010.

[46][47] The bank's Process Driven Trading unit was among several on Wall Street caught in a short squeeze, reportedly losing nearly $300 million in one day.

[48] The bank was contracted by the United States Treasury in August 2008 to advise the government on potential rescue strategies for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

[49] Within days, Morgan Stanley itself was at risk of failure, with rapidly changing prospects, regulatory model and ownership stakes over the course of four weeks from mid-September to mid-October 2008.

[51] On September 17, 2008, the British evening-news analysis program Newsnight reported that Morgan Stanley was facing difficulties after a 42% slide in its share price in two days.

CEO John J. Mack wrote in a memo to staff "we're in the midst of a market controlled by fear and rumours and short-sellers are driving our stock down."

By September 19, 2008, the share price had slid 57% in four days, and the company was said to have explored merger possibilities with CITIC, Wachovia, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Banco Santander and Nomura.

[57][58] The physical check was accepted by Robert A. Kindler, Global Head of Mergers and Acquisitions and Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley, at the offices of Wachtell Lipton.

[60][61][62][63] Morgan Stanley borrowed $107.3 billion from the Fed during the 2008 crisis, the most of any bank, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News Service and published August 22, 2011.

[74] In October 2024, Morgan Stanley entered into a 40,000-tonne carbon dioxide removal purchase agreement with Climeworks, a direct air capture startup company, for an undisclosed price.

[81] In June 2013, Morgan Stanley stated it had secured all regulatory approvals to buy Citigroup's remaining 35% stake in Smith Barney and would proceed to finalize the deal.

[84] It provides asset management products and services to institutional investors worldwide, including pension plans, corporations, private funds, non-profit organizations, foundations, endowments, governmental agencies, insurance companies and banks.

It had been filed in California by both current and former Morgan Stanley employees for unfair labor practices instituted to those in the financial advisor training program.

This resolved charges that the firm's former affiliate, Morgan Stanley DW, Inc. (MSDW), failed on numerous occasions to provide emails to claimants in arbitration proceedings as well as to regulators.

[106] Under a settlement with New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, the firm agreed to repurchase approximately $4.5 billion worth of auction rate securities.

[110] Garth R. Peterson, one of Morgan Stanley's highest-ranking real estate executives in China, pleaded guilty on April 25, 2012 to violating U.S. federal anti-corruption laws.

2013), applying New York's faithless servant doctrine to a case involving Morgan Stanley's hedge fund subsidiary, United States District Judge Shira Scheindlin held that a hedge fund's employee engaging in insider trading in violation of his company's code of conduct, which also required him to report his misconduct, must repay his employer the full $31 million (~$40 million in 2023) his employer paid him as compensation during his period of faithlessness.

[115] The judge also wrote:"In addition to exposing Morgan Stanley to government investigations and direct financial losses, Skowron's behavior damaged the firm's reputation, a valuable corporate asset.

"[115] In February 2014, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $1.25 billion to the US government, as a penalty for concealing the full risk associated with mortgage securities with the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

[123] Douglas E. Greenberg, a broker, was fired in 2018 after it was reported that four women from Lake Oswego, Oregon, had sought police protection against him over a 15-year period on allegations of harassment, threats, and assault.

[130] California Attorney General Xavier Becerra commented: "Morgan Stanley lied about the risk of its products and put profits over teachers and public employees who relied on its advice."

[133] In May 2020, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $5 million penalty to settle allegations made by the SEC that the corporation provided misleading information to some clients in the retail wrap fee programs regarding trade-execution services and transaction costs.

[134] In September 2022, the SEC announced charges against Morgan Stanley stemming from the firm’s extensive failures, over a five-year period, to protect the personal identifying information of approximately 15 million customers.

[135] In November 2023, Attorney General of Connecticut William Tong announced a $6.5 million settlement with Morgan Stanley for compromising the personal information of its customers due to negligent security practices.

[137] In February 2025, a group of 17 U.S. state attorneys general criticized Morgan Stanley for making improper or inadequate disclosures about investments in China.