Morgan Stanley's Revised Capital Plan Approved by Fed

By Ryan Tracy 

WASHINGTON -- Morgan Stanley received approval from the Federal Reserve for a revised plan to return capital to shareholders, a positive development for the bank after the central bank rebuked its planning processes in last year's "stress tests."

The bank was the only top U.S. firm in 2016 not to receive full approval from the Fed for its plans to return capital to shareholders as part of the annual tests. The Fed gave Morgan Stanley a "conditional non-objection" to its capital plan, meaning the firm had to resubmit a plan to address the regulator's perceived shortcomings. The Fed said at the time that Morgan Stanley's capital planning process "exhibited material weaknesses."

On Thursday the Fed said it had approved the resubmitted plan "as a result of progress made by the firm in addressing deficiencies." The stress-testing exercise is already under way again this year for Morgan Stanley and other banks, with results likely in June.

Write to Ryan Tracy at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 02, 2017 16:45 ET (21:45 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.