Morgan Stanley Denies Rumor it Plans to Shutter Branches

Morgan Stanley denied the widely circulated news report Tuesday morning that it planned to cut 300 branches and 1,200 jobs.

The brokerage had confirmed previously that it had a round of 200 layoffs just before Memorial Day.

A Morgan Stanley Smith Barney spokesman confirmed another report that said the company is planning no more major rounds of layoffs.

The job reductions stemming from the integration of Citi’s Smith Barney have been completed, he says. The company would only initiate further layoffs if “extreme market conditions” made it necessary, he notes. The more recent, confirmed news report was in Fundfire, an online news service.

The spokesman also disputed the original Fox Business Network report that 300 branches will be closed. In the Fundfire report, he said it is planning to trim its branch count to 750, as it had announced earlier this year when it confirmed it would be closing 120 of its current 870 branches.

The spokesman says it appears that Fox came it its conclusions by extrapolating from an incorrect base numbers.