Morgan Stanley hurt by trading revenue crash
MORGAN Stanley joined the wave of investment banks hit by poor bond trading revenues in the final quarter of 2014, as it reported disappointing financial results yesterday.
But the bank’s legal bills did fall sharply, in contrast to some other lenders which have seen mounting litigation costs.
Profits came in at $920m (£607m) for the fourth quarter, down 44 per cent on the quarter but up from just $36m in the same period of 2014.
Overall non-interest revenues fell five per cent on the year to $7.2bn.
The biggest drop was a 79 per cent dive in investments income, which fell to $112m.
But fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) trading revenues were also a big disappointment, down four per cent on the year and 41 per cent on the quarter to $1.45bn.
Chairman and chief executive James Gorman blamed “choppy market conditions” for the poor figures.
However, the bank’s legal expenses fell from $1.4bn to $284m.
Morgan Stanley’s shares fell 0.4 per cent on the day.