Businessmodel of Morgan Stanley

Customer Segments

Morgan Stanley provides a full range of financial and investment banking services to a broad spectrum of clients. The Company’s clients can be organised according to the Company’s operating segments:

• Institutional Securities, which serves corporations, governments, financial institutions, high-to-ultra high net worth clients, and family offices;
• Wealth Management, which serves individual investors and small-to-medium sized businesses and institutions across multiple business sectors; and
• Investment Management, which principally serves institutional clients, including defined benefit and defined contribution pensions, foundations, endowments, government entities, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, third-party fund sponsors, and corporations. Morgan Stanley serves a broad network of high-profile corporate and institutional clients across the world. The Company operates in both US and non-US markets, with the US accounting for the bulk of its business. The Company’s non-US business activities are principally conducted and managed through the Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions.

Value Propositions

Morgan Stanley provides value to its clients in the following ways:

• Its reputation and industry standing, with the Company established as one of the most respected and high-profile financial institutions in the US, having a track record for providing high-quality services, and with a certain level of prestige associated with its name;
• Its broad portfolio of services and products, with the Company providing a broad portfolio of financial products and services – including investment banking, financial advisory, brokerage, wealth planning, and insurance services – to individual, corporate, and institutional clients;
• Its international client base, with the Company serving a global client base spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, in addition to its extensive domestic client base;
• Its accessibility and flexibility, with the Company providing a range of banking and other financial services through various digital platforms, that enable clients to manage their accounts independently; and
• Its industry expertise and experience, with the Company employing highly-trained financial specialists across its various operating segments and divisions, as well as a team of experienced industry executives. ### Channels

Morgan Stanley operates a website at www.morganstanley.com, through which the Company provides information on its various products, services, and activities. The Company also provides an online banking platform, which enables customers to manage accounts, transfer funds, and access certain tools. The Company also operates dedicated online platforms for certain services, including its StockPlan Connect, ClientLink, and Matrix platforms.

Morgan Stanley serves its clients directly through its various teams of financial professionals, including investment and financial advisors, investment bankers, and trading professionals. The Company conducts its business from its headquarters in and around New York City, as well as its network of regional offices and branches throughout the US and its principal international offices, including in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, and other world financial centres.

Customer Relationships

Morgan Stanley provides a range of services and products to its clients on a self-service basis through its various online platforms, including its digital banking service, and StockPlan Connect, ClientLink, and Matrix portals. These channels enable clients to manage their accounts, transfer funds, and access other tools and services without interacting with members of the Company’s personnel.

Morgan Stanley provides personalised services to its clients through an extensive team of financial professional around the world, who work closely with customers, providing direct advisory services, to ensure that the individual needs of each client are met. The Company’s larger corporate and institutional clients are each afforded their own account management teams and account executives to ensure quick and efficient customer service.

Clients are able to access tailored customer support from Morgan Stanley’s staff by contacting the Company’s various departments and offices over the phone or via email. The Company also provides various resources through its multiple online platforms, as well as offering market coverage and industry insights to its customers via its website.

Additionally, clients are able to follow Morgan Stanley’s activities and interact with the Company directly through its social media accounts, including with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Key Activities

Morgan Stanley is a financial holding company. Through its various subsidiary companies and affiliates, the Company provides an extensive range of financial services, including financial and investment advisory, trading, and capital management and distribution services to governments, institutions, corporations, and individuals.

Morgan Stanley organises its operations into three business segments: Institutional Securities, which provides investment banking, sales and trading, and other services; Wealth Management, which provides a broad range of financial services and solutions to individual investors and institutions covering brokerage, banking and retirement plan services; and Investment Management, which provides a range of investment strategies and products. The Company serves an international client base, including clients in Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions, as well as its native US.

Key Partners

Morgan Stanley works closely with a brad network of partners across multiple sectors in order to provide reliable and effective services to its clients. These partnerships can be categorised broadly as:

• Supplier and Vendor Partners, comprising suppliers of various services, technologies, and equipment that support the Company’s core financial operations and infrastructure, as well as companies to which certain non-technical functions can be outsourced;
• Joint Venture Partners, comprising various financial and non-financial companies with which the Company provides products and services jointly through mutually owned entities;
• Distribution and Affiliate Partners, comprising a network of agents, brokers, and other financial professionals with which the Company works to provide products and services to a broad client base around the world; and
• Strategic and Alliance Partners, comprising a number of market leading companies from a range of sectors with which the Company shares resources and collaborates on joint projects. Morgan Stanley has a number of partnerships in place. This includes a partnership with the American Cancer Fund to raise cancer awareness and support research projects, a tie-up with Coastal Enterprises to develop a community lending scheme that benefits low and moderate-income neighborhoods, and a distribution deal with FinTech.

Key Resources

Morgan Stanley’s key resources are its financial resources, its IT and communications infrastructure, its online platforms, its network of affiliates and professional service providers, its service and sales infrastructure, its partnerships, and its personnel.

Morgan Stanley owns and or leases a network of physical properties around the world, which are key to its ongoing business activities. The Company has offices, operations and data centres located around the world, including across the Company’s three principal US offices in New York, which it owns, and three principal international offices in Hong Kong, London, and Tokyo, which it leases.

Cost Structure

Morgan Stanley incurs costs in relation to the development and maintenance of its online platforms, the maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the procurement of various professional services, the management of its partnerships, the implementation of marketing campaigns, the management of its partnerships, and the retention of its personnel.

In 2015 Morgan Stanley accrued total non-interest expenses in the amount of $26.66 billion. The majority of these costs concerned the payment of salaries and benefits to the Company’s international workforce of 56,218 employees, which totaled $16.02 billion.

Revenue Streams

Morgan Stanley generates revenue through the provision and sale of various investment banking and financial services and products. This principally comprises revenue derived from the sale of certain banking products, as well as commissions in relation to the various services it provides, including fees received in relation to financial advisory services, wealth advisory services, capital management services, and executing and clearing institutional client transactions.

In 2015 Morgan Stanley generated annual revenue of $35.16 billion, up on the $34.28 billion recorded by the Company in 2014. The Company’s largest revenue generator was its Institutional Securities segment, which alone generated revenue totalling $17.95 billion. This was followed by the Company’s Wealth Management segment, which generated revenue for the year of $15.10 billion, with the Company’s Investment Management segment recording just $2.32 billion.