According to the Wall Street Journal, E*Trade has five million retail customers including $360 billion in assets; Morgan Stanley will also have access to the deposit base, allowing them to make loans; E*Trade will keep its brand and their retail storefronts; two of E*Trade’s competitors, Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade recently announced their own merger which raised questions on whether E*Trade could survive over the long term; James Gorman, Morgan Stanley CEO stated, “We’ll take on Schwab. We’ll take on Fidelity…This isn’t about legacy-building; it’s about getting ready for prime time.” Morgan Stanley has recently been focusing on less wealthy retail clients and E*Trade will become a part of this unit which will total eight million users and $3.1 trillion in client money. The Wall Street Journal
