Morgan Stanley to Open Wealth Unit in Canada

Morgan Stanley will launch a wealth management unit in Canada that includes full-service and virtual financial advisors. 

The new business aims to build on the firm’s current Shareworks stock-plan administrative services in that country and will use Canaccord Genuity as its platform provider. 

“We’re excited to expand our wealth management footprint into Canada with a solution that’s tailored to the Canadian market,” said Laura Adams, head of Institutional Distribution in Canada and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Canada, in a statement. 

Along with access to advisors, the wealth unit in Canada will include discounted self-directed investing and online investment management. 

(Morgan Stanley’s U.S. wealth business has some $2.4 trillion in assets and about 15,000 financial advisors.)

Northern Roots 

Morgan Stanley bought Solium Capital of Calgary, Canada, a year ago. It renamed the venture Shareworks by Morgan Stanley and merged it with its Morgan Stanley at Work operations. 

“The creation of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Canada will add wealth management services to our comprehensive suite of workplace financial solutions,” said Brian McDonald, head of Morgan Stanley at Work, in a statement. 

The workplace business in that country has some 350 Canadian clients, or about 70% of firms in the TSX 60 stock index. These clients include 275,000 Canadian stock plan participants with about $17.5 billion in assets. 

“Taken together, these solutions will help to maintain and strengthen the competitiveness of Canadian companies by meeting the breadth of their employees’ needs,” McDonald said. 

Morgan Stanley has done business in Canada since the 1960s and has offices in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal, where it employs more than 1,500 Canadians.

— Check out Morgan Stanley Rolls Out New Mobile Banking Program on ThinkAdvisor.