Morgan Stanley Agrees To Sell Web Brokerage

The Morgan Stanley Web brokerage is the second on-line brokerage the Bank of Montreal has acquired this year. The company bought CSFBdirect in February for $520 million from Credit Suisse First Boston, New York.

“Our growth strategy is to expand selectively and substantially in the U.S., while continuing to invest in our core Canadian franchise,” says Tony Comper, the Bank of Montreal’s chairman.

Completing the Morgan Stanley deal will give Harrisdirect, the bank’s “direct investing” business, a total of 1 million active accounts and $38 billion in assets under administration, the bank says.