Strong markets double Morgan Stanley’s profit
INVESTMENT bank Morgan Stanley more than doubled its profits as stock markets soared and clients sent more work the bank’s way, it said yesterday.
Profits came in at $1.86bn (£1.1bn) for the three months to 30 June, up 131 per cent on the same period of 2013.
By division, the biggest jump came in institutional securities, where profits soared 128 per cent to $1.3bn.
The boom in mergers and acquisitions pushed advisory revenues up 25 per cent to $418m, and the rise in IPOs pushed equity underwriting income up 50 per cent to $489m.
Fixed income trading revenues plunged 17 per cent to $1bn, but underwriting new bond issues brought in revenues of $525m, up 26 per cent on the year.
Wealth management profits rose 44 per cent to $471m.
And investment management profits increased 34 per cent to $135m.
The bank’s wage bill edged up from $4.1bn to $4.2bn, but other costs fell 7.7 per cent to $2.4bn on lower legal costs.
Return on average common equity soared from 5.2 per cent to 11.5 per cent. Morgan Stanley’s shares rose on the news, but ended down 0.6 per cent.