Morgan Stanley wants you bad
By TIMES WIRES
Published May 6, 2006
Morgan Stanley is offering high-producing financial advisers a bonus of up to 200 percent of their gross revenue over the past 12 months if they jump ship from competitors.
Morgan Stanley has offered the deal - a combination of upfront cash and additional components paid over the next several years based on the recruit's performance - twice in recent months.
The terms highlight just how intense the competition has become as brokerage houses scramble to recruit high-producing advisers with significant client assets. UBS AG is offering a similar bonus this year, and brokerage firms like Merrill Lynch & Co. and Wachovia Corp. unit Wachovia Securities could feel compelled to make similar offers.
"This puts pressure on others to do something to get slightly more aggressive," said Andy Tasnady, a compensation consultant specializing in the financial sector.
Wall Street firms have become more aggressive in luring high-producing advisers as they switch toward a business based on collecting fees for assets under management and away from the more volatile model of relying on revenue from per-trade commissions. Morgan Stanley has more than 9,000 brokers.
"Money is the best inducement for these kind of people to come aboard to Morgan Stanley," said Howard Diamond, an executive recruiter dealing with financial services companies. "It's a terrific opportunity to harness quality financial advisers."
Other chatter
NO MORE CONFUSION OVER YOUR WATER BOTTLES: The battle over bottles has been settled. PepsiCo Inc. reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed against it by the maker of Vitaminwater, which alleged that the soft drink heavyweight imitated the recipe and look of Glaceau's popular brand of vitamin-enhanced water. Energy Brands Inc., a private company that does business as Glaceau, said Friday the terms of the settlement, reached late Thursday night, were confidential, but PepsiCo said it agreed to change the packaging and cap of its SoBe Life Water as a result. Glaceau sued April 5, calling PepsiCo's Life Water a "slavish knockoff" that copies Vitaminwater's packaging, ingredients, sweetener type and calorie content.
AOL TO OFFER IM USERS A FREE PHONE NUMBER: AOL is set to offer its instant-messaging users a free phone number to use for incoming calls, and for a fee, the ability to call regular phones from the software. The move brings AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, closer in functionality to voice-oriented applications like eBay Inc.'s Skype and so-called voice over Internet services from Vonage Holdings Corp. and others. AOL, the Internet unit of Time Warner Inc., will start offering the free numbers this month. It won't be possible to move existing phone numbers to the service.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.