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Morgan Stanley To Close Moscow Equities & FX Trading Desks

Published 12/14/2018, 07:23 AM
Updated 07/09/2023, 06:31 AM

Joining other foreign banks, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is lowering its presence in Russia. The company is closing its equities and foreign exchange (FX) trading desks in Moscow. This was first reported by Bloomberg, citing persons familiar with the matter.

The stagnant Russian economy and sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union since the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 are the primary reasons for Morgan Stanley’s move. Some other banks like Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) and Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) have already pulled back from Russia owing to diminishing profitability while Goldman (NYSE:GS) has reduced the staff.

Morgan Stanley, which has nearly 40 employees on its sales and FX trading desks in Russia, plans to move some of them to London while expects to terminate other positions. Notably, the company will continue to focus on corporate finance, capital markets and mergers and acquisitions in the country.

The company in a statement said, “Morgan Stanley remains committed to Russia and will maintain our longstanding on-the-ground presence in Moscow and ensure that our clients in Russia continue to benefit from the capabilities of the firm, in particular as it relates to investment banking and global capital markets.”

With this move, Morgan Stanley’s business in Moscow will revert back to the scale that was in place from 1994 till 2008, when it opened a full-service branch. Besides, the company’s analysts covering Russian stocks are already based in London.

Shares of Morgan Stanley have lost 22.6% so far this year compared with a decline of 22.3% for the industry it belongs to.



Currently, Morgan Stanley carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (DB): Free Stock Analysis Report

Credit Suisse Group (CS): Free Stock Analysis Report

Morgan Stanley (MS): Free Stock Analysis Report

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS): Free Stock Analysis Report

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