Has Morgan Stanley stiffed people in the middle and back office?

31 January 2011

2 minute read

Has Morgan Stanley stiffed people in the middle and back office?

Rumours are filtering through of grave disgruntlement in the middle and back office at Morgan Stanley.

According to recruiters and to Morgan Stanley staff themselves, bonuses this year have been virtually non-existent and salaries haven't been increased to compensate.

"Morgan Stanley middle and back office functions have been absolutely shredded," alleges one recruiter. "There are lots of people with zeros. I know one ED who's been there for more than a decade. He hasn't had a pay rise for four years and his bonus has gone from 60k to zero."

"Bonuses seem to be very low at Morgan Stanley," claims another middle and back office recruiter. "So far, they've been the standout bank for discontentment."

Banks don't usually discuss compensation issues. Predictably, therefore, a spokesman for Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

If the bonus claims are true, Morgan Stanley is likely to have retention problems in a few months' time. One recruiter claims they're expecting 25% churn in finance functions.

Another says hiring is already comparatively strong across the market in areas like technology, infrastructure and operations, and that finance hiring is expected to "warm up" in the months to come.

"Right now, it's not wildly buoyant, but the expectation is good," says amother accounting recruiter in an investment bank. "But the expectation is good. I am waiting with baited breath."

AUTHORSarah Butcher

Global Editor

Ri
Ricky
2 February 2011
I Would take 14 an hour I 'm not proud obviously. I hope this comes up without my name being mentioned !
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st
stillhere
1 February 2011
4 years - so that is from 2006.
Except for 2006, the rest makes sense. Dec 2007 was the fall into the bank financial crisis. 2010 profits were strongly helped by the US TARP programme. It was a money printing opportuntiy for banks. So efforts by employees - minimal.
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ed
ed_oc
1 February 2011
why are so many people in MS back office reading this jobs site :-) ?
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MS
MSisburning
1 February 2011
Morgan Stanley has 65,000 employees, or thereabouts, of which 18,000 are in the retail brokerage joint venture, Smith Barney. JP Morgan's investment bank has around 22,000 people; Goldman Sachs, a pure investment bank with an institutional asset manager attached, has 35,000. Do the maths! That's a lot more IB mouths to feed at MS, with worse numbers for the year. Crisis point for their MO and BO dudes, I'd say.
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Ch
Chinese Communist
1 February 2011
@ Worker - What do you expect from US banks and companies? Ever been to the States? Half the country looks like sub-Saharan Africa, there is extreme poverty there because of the totally uneven distribution of wealth. The sooner that country ceases to be the number one country on earth the better. I am optimistic about the future, they are in a freefall already.
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