Morgan Stanley to expand share unit in Australia

Sydney: Morgan Stanley's sharebroking venture with Citigroup Inc plans to expand in Australia either by hiring staff from rivals or buying competing firms, the venture's chairman James Gorman said.

Merging Morgan Stanley's Australian unit with Citi's Smith Barney operation gives the combined entity a "tremendous platform for growth," Gorman said in an interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corp's Inside Business programme today. The global recession may also drive consolidation in a market with probably too many brokers, he said.

"We would be looking to be an acquirer, either of individuals' talent or of organisations to continue to grow," said Gorman, who is also a co-president of New York-based Morgan Stanley. "Over the next couple of years, if we can find appropriate consolidation opportunities, we'll act on them."

Morgan Stanley, the sixth-largest bank in the US, this month paid $2.75 billion (Dh10.09 billion) for a 51 per cent stake in the combined Morgan Stanley Smith Barney venture. The merged business has about 18,500 financial advisers worldwide and is expected to generate cost savings of about $1.1 billion after full integration in two years.

Australia's largest brokerages are cutting jobs after the collapse of global equity markets reduced trading volumes and commissions.

In April, UBS AG announced 240 job losses within its Asia-Pacific wealth management unit. The month before, Societe Generale SA said it would cut 30 per cent of its Australian workforce, while Goldman Sachs JBWere was reported planning a five per cent cut from its Australian staff.