In the following video, Motley Fool financial analyst Matt Koppenheffer talks about Morgan Stanley's (MS 1.69%) efforts to get its investment bankers and traders working cohesively with its brokers and wealth managers. While this has been difficult traditionally as the investment bankers often consider themselves to be above the level of wealth management, in this video, Matt highlights some possible synergies that could be very beneficial to both sides. He also says that the Morgan Stanley is going to need all the synergies it can get, as the company and its recent acquisition of the rest of Smith Barney will have a tough competitive fight ahead of them against Bank of America's (BAC 1.00%) Merrill unit.
Can Morgan Stanley Mix Oil and Water?
By Matt Koppenheffer – Feb 20, 2013 at 4:09PM
NYSE: MS
Morgan Stanley
Market Cap
$259B
Today's Change
(-1.69%) $2.74
Current Price
$159.23
Price as of October 21, 2025 at 4:00 PM ET
Can these two sides of Morgan Stanley's business work together?
About the Author
Matt is the head of the Coverage Team for The Motely Fool's premium products. Previously, he's been . Matt is a heavy user of AI tools and is working on harnessing them to help Fool members. Previously, Matt was GM of Motley Fool Ascent, led The Motley Fool Deutschland, has been an investor on various Fool services, and co-hosted the podcast "Where the Money Is". He also co-authored the book The Astonishing Collapse of MF Global. Matt started his career in San Francisco as a technology-focused investment banker and also worked at a $15 billion private equity company. When he's thinking about how to make Fools smarter, happier, and richer, you can usually find Matt running trails or making a mess in the kitchen. He's a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, but is a lifelong fan of Penn State football.