Morgan Stanley's wealth management unit drives quarterly profit

Morgan Stanley posted an 11 percent rise in quarterly profit as strength in wealth management and investment banking businesses more than made up for a slowdown in trading.

The bank's wealth management revenue rose 8.7 percent to $4.22 billion - its highest ever, while investment banking revenue rose 12.7 percent to $1.38 billion.

Bond trading revenue, however, fell 20 percent to $1.2 billion, mirroring declines across the sector.

Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp have all reported steep declines in fixed income trading activity due to a slump in volatility.

Revenue from equities trading, a business in which Morgan Stanley is typically strong, remained flat at $1.9 billion.

"Our third quarter results reflected the stability our wealth management, investment banking and investment management businesses bring when our Sales and Trading business faces a subdued environment," Chief Executive James Gorman said in a statement.

Earnings applicable to common shareholders rose to $1.69 billion from $1.52 billion a year ago. Earnings per share rose to 93 cents from 81 cents.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $9.20 billion from a year earlier.

Analysts had forecast earnings of 81 cents per share and revenue of revenue $9.01 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the figures were comparable.

Margan Stanley's shares were up 1.6 percent in premarket trading. Arch rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc is also scheduled to report results on Tuesday.

 

(Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bengaluru and Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)