Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Morgan Stanley announced plans to deepen collaboration in Japan through their foreign exchange and equities businesses.
MUFG and Morgan Stanley will collaborate on foreign exchange trading as well as their Japanese research and equities businesses for institutional clients, according to a statement.
The two banks entered into a memoranda of understanding for further collaboration as part of the launch of their «Alliance 2.0». They will both work to conclude definitive agreements regarding each collaboration initiative with a targeted implementation date in the first half of 2024, subject to regulatory approval.
FX, Equities
On foreign exchange, MUFG’s main banking unit will use Morgan Stanley’s global FX platform. And on Japanese research and equity businesses for institutional clients, the two banks will combine operations at their brokerage joint ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities.
«[T]hese initiatives are significant not only in terms of providing better services to our clients, but also as examples of ways our two firms can continue to work together and deepen our strategic alliance over the years to come,» said Morgan Stanley chairman and CEO James Gorman.
Strategic Alliance
The two banks first established their global strategic alliance in 2008, starting with a $9 billion investment by MUFG into Morgan Stanley with a current shareholding of around 22.6 percent. The existing partnership also covers areas like M&A advisory, equity and debt underwriting as well as wealth management.
As a result of closer ties between the two banks’ joint ventures, MUFG plans to disclose business metrics across both entities.
