Morgan Stanley profit falls on compensation costs, tax provision

REUTERS - Morgan Stanley reported an 8.5 percent fall in quarterly profit, hurt by a rise in compensation costs and as the sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets set aside more money to cover taxes.

Morgan Stanley, the last big U.S. bank to report second-quarter earnings, said its net income from continuing operations applicable to the company fell to $1.67 billion, or 85 cents per share, from $1.82 billion, or 92 cents per share, a year earlier.

The bank's profit in the year-earlier quarter was boosted by a one-time tax benefit of $609 million.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 74 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the reported figures were comparable.

Consolidated net revenue rose 13 percent to $9.74 billion, with wealth management revenue increasing 4.7 percent to $3.88 billion.

Morgan Stanley is focusing on stable businesses such as wealth management and backing away from volatile businesses such as bond trading as a way to free up capital and comply with stricter regulations.

(Reporting by Anil D'Silva and Richa Naidu in Bangalore and Olivia Oran in new York; Editing by Ted Kerr)