Morgan Stanley shares slid as much as 6.5% after a report that a cadre of U.S. regulators are scrutinizing the firm's efforts to prevent potential money laundering by wealthy clients.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and other Treasury Department offices are digging into whether the New York-based bank has done enough to investigate the identities of risky clients, the Wall Street Journal wrote, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. The Federal Reserve was already known to be looking into those controls last year.
The SEC and the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network have sought information on certain clients outside the U.S. who've raised red flags and the bank's policies to respond to it. Specifically, the SEC pressed Morgan Stanley's unit serving affluent people about why it did business with some who had been cut off by E-trade, the digital-trading platform the company acquired.
The stock was down 5.5% to $86.61 at 2:45 p.m. in New York. A Morgan Stanley spokesperson declined to comment.
The bank has told regulators it's improving controls and procedures and met with Federal Reserve officials to allay concerns last year. The wealth business has grown into the firm's biggest unit, and has expanded in recent years after acquisitions.
