Morgan Stanley to Complete E-Trade Purchase Oct. 2

By Janet Levaux

News October 01, 2020 at 01:06 PM

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The Federal Reserve approved Morgan Stanley's $13 billion acquisition of E-Trade Financial late Wednesday, and the wirehouse says it expects to wrap up the deal on Friday.

Morgan Stanley's announcement came as Charles Schwab said its $26 billion purchase of TD Ameritrade also got a thumbs-up from the Fed and would be completed by Tuesday.

"We are pleased to have received approval from the Federal Reserve," said Morgan Stanley Chairman and CEO James Gorman, in a statement.

The deal was initially announced on Feb. 20. It received the Department of Justice's approval for the transaction about five weeks later.

"Both our teams have worked tirelessly over the past six months to bring our organizations together, and we are excited about the benefits our combined firm will provide to our clients, employees and shareholders," Gorman explained.

As of June 30, Morgan Stanley's wealth unit had nearly $2.7 trillion of client assets, while E-Trade had $416.8 billion.

Morgan Stanley plans to release its third quarter earnings on Oct. 15. It has some 15,400 financial advisors.

In reaching its decision, the Federal Reserve explained that the wirehouse's purchase of the discount broker "would not appear to result in meaningfully greater or more concentrated risks to the stability of the U.S. banking or financial system or the United States economy or to global or U.S. financial stability."

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