Morgan Stanley lands Goldman veteran to help lead equity trading in New York
Morgan Stanley has hired a 30-year Goldman Sachs veteran to help lead the firm’s equity-trading business, the latest in a series of moves designed to bolster the firm’s sales and trading operations.
Anthony Lauto – who left Goldman in 2007 – will join Morgan Stanley’s New York office as a managing director. Morgan Stanley — widely seen as mistiming its pullback from risk — began building up its sales and trading ranks in the second half of 2009 as it planned to hire as many as 400 people.
The hires were targeted to Morgan Stanley’s foreign exchange, emerging markets and equity derivatives businesses.
The firm in July hired Jack DiMaio, a former Credit Suisse fixed-income head for North America, as global head of interest rate, credit and currency trading.
But weak trading results still weighed on Morgan Stanley’s fourth-quarter earnings.
Morgan Stanley’s trading revenue dropped 65 per cent to $1.1bn in the fourth quarter from $3.2bn in the third quarter.