Results in the wealth management business on a year-on-year comparison were affected by the purchase of discount broker E*TRADE. Net new assets grew sharply to $71.2 billion from $20.4 billion.

Morgan Stanley yesterday said that its wealth management arm had logged net revenues in the second quarter 2021 of $6.1 billion, up from $4.7 billion a year ago. The business made pre-tax income of $1.6 billion, repesenting a pre-tax margin of 26.8 per cent.

Fee-based client assets stood at $1.68 trillion, up from $1.236 trillion a year ago. The firm logged net new assets and fee-based flows of $71 billion and $34 billion, respectively.

The Wall Street firm said that the comparisons of Q2 2021 results to prior periods were affected by Morgan Stanley’s purchase of discount broker E*TRADE, one of the largest M&A deals in the banking industry since the 2008 financial crisis. 

The US group reported net revenues of $14.8 billion for the second quarter 2021 compared with $13.7 billion a year ago. Net income applicable to Morgan Stanley was $3.5 billion, or $1.85 per diluted share, compared with net income of $3.2 billion, or $1.96 per diluted share.