Morgan Stanley is reorganizing its wealth management business as it folds a recent acquisition into the company.
Among other changes, the business created the Corporate & Institutional Solutions group that will be led by Jed Finn, chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, according to a memo reviewed by WealthManagement.com. The memo, sent to the unit by co-heads of the business Shelley O’Connor and Andy Saperstein, said Finn will remain COO of the business.
The new group will include Solium Capital Inc., a stock-plan administration company the bank acquired in February for $900 million. Brian McDonald, head of Corporate and Digital Solutions, will also assume responsibility for Solium and report directly to Finn.
Ben Huneke, head of Investment Solutions, will now oversee additional parts of the business going forward, including Morgan Stanley’s Graystone Consulting, a small but elite group of advisors focused on serving institutions that managed more than $278 billion as of October 2017, according to the bank. Huneke will also be responsible for the wealth manager's Consulting Group. James Tracy, the head of Graystone and the Consulting Group, will report to Huneke, according to the memo.
Lisa Golia, head of Field Strategic Services, is also expanding her supervision over more of the wealth business. In addition to her current role overseeing branch processing and client onboarding, Golia will be in charge of the Service Professionals Group, a person familiar with the reorganization told WealthManagement.com.
The acquisition of Solium was Morgan Stanley's biggest in a decade, as it looks to deals 10 years after buying Smith Barney. Morgan Stanley Chairman and CEO James Gorman said in January that the bank was keeping its eyes open for acquisitions in 2019, even after choppy markets and heightened compensation costs hindered revenue from the bank's wealth unit in the fourth quarter. Still, annual performance in 2018 was on target, even as the bank continued to invest in the business.
