Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) might soon request US regulators to let the securities firm repurchase shares for the first time in over four years, in accordance with people familiar with the firm’s ideas.
The Wall Street bank could forward its application to the Federal Reserve as soon as January as part of the yearly “stress-test” process, these people stated.
The stress tests began in 2009 as a way to satisfy investors that the biggest banks could survive an economic crisis. They have been used to find out banks’ ability to disburse dividends or repurchase shares. Share-buyback and dividend plans are payable from 19 large financial companies by January 7. [article_detail_ad_1]
Morgan Stanley slipped -0.06% to $17.74 with the total traded shares of 9.44 million as of 11:42AM EST.
No judgment has been reached by Morgan Stanley, and the firm’s priority stays completing in early 2013 the formerly declared purchase of the 35% interest in a wealth-management joint venture with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C). Citigroup shares added +0.70% to $37.26 with the total traded shares of 9.98 million as of 11:45AM EST.
Morgan Stanley Chairman and Chief Executive James Gorman commented previous month that it would be “much better” to give back capital to long-suffering investors than make extra investments in well-established businesses at the company.
Just the strongest large banks have been permitted by the Fed to repurchase shares since the financial crisis. Those firms comprise Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC).
The US watchdog’s denial of an application by Citigroup this year to buy back as much as $8 billion in stock was a thing in the board’s October judgment to drive out CEO Vikram Pandit.