Finance Monthly March 2020 Edition

9 www.finance-monthly.com NEWS - MONTHLY ROUND-UP The investment bank for millionaires, Mor- gan Stanley, is in the process of buying E- trade Financial, a suc- cessful international brokering firm, for around $13 billion. In what is set to be one of Wall Street’s biggest deals since the crash over a decade ago, Morgan Stanley is intent on buying E-trade in a $13 billion all-stock transaction. The deal will continue Morgan Stanley’s ongoing transformation into Morgan Stanley and E-Trade position in the investment bro- kerage markets. Forrester’s senior an- alyst, Vijay Raghavan told Finance Month- ly: “In the wake of the price war that first started when Schwab got rid of stock trad- ing commissions, E- trade was weakened because of its reli- ance on commissions – just like TD Ameri- trade (before it was acquired by Charles Schwab). a more reliable finan- cial firm that relies more on assets and wealth management. The purchase of E-trade will carry across 5.2 million cli- ent accounts, $360 billion in retail cli- ents’ assets and fur- ther customers that may now make use of Morgan Stanley’s vast expertise. Cur- rent rivals Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade are cur- rently mid-merger, so this consolidates Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13 Billion make investment de- cisions for them. “This acquisition complements Mor- gan Stanley’s exist- ing affluent customer base, providing them with a wider array of customers with dif- ferent levels of in- vestable assets. It also gives them a direct-to-consumer brokerage business and $56 billion in deposits which will help cut down on risk during an economic downturn.” “Nearly half of E- trade’s customer base (48%) is com- prised of self-direct- ed investors. Self- directed investors prefer robust trad- ing tools, real-time market commentary, and charting tools, to name a few. “Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business serves an affluent investor base who comprise the delegator seg- ment, relying on fi- nancial advisors to