Morgan Stanley to Open a Bank in Russia

News and photos from the Moscow News (01/06/2004)

International financial major Morgan Stanley plans to apply for Russian general banking license and for a license to participate in the professional securities market. This information was disclosed in an official company statement following a publication in the Vedomosti business daily which reported that Morgan Stanley plans to open a subsidiary bank in Russia.

Morgan Stanley opened its representative office in Russia in 1994. In 1998 the company moved its analytical unit to London, but continued to trade in Russian Eurobonds and ADRs from London and New York. Now the bank wants to actively participate in trading Russian securities, state and corporate bonds and “to take up a leading position on Russia’s domestic securities market”, Rair Simonyan, president of Morgan Stanley Russia told the newspaper. The bank’s official also said that it is hoped the subsidiary bank will start operating within a year or a year and a half.