Morgan Stanley, home to 8,350 advisors, is forming a "strategic alliance" with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group of Japan, and – along with Goldman Sachs – it has become a bank-holding company, ending its days as an investment bank.
"Based on consultation with the Department of Justice regarding the applications of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to become bank holding companies, the Federal Reserve Board announced on Monday [September 22] that the transactions may be consummated immediately without the application of the five-day antitrust waiting period," according to a Fed statement.
Morgan Stanley announced Monday that it entered into a letter of intent to pursue a strategic alliance with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest banking group and the world's second largest bank holding company with $1.1 trillion in bank deposits. The letter of intent gives Mitsubishi UFH the right to buy up to 20 percent of Morgan Stanley's equity on a fully diluted basis. After the transaction, a representative of MUFG will join the Morgan Stanley board.
