Morgan Stanley Wins Euromoney Awards with Market-Leading Strength in IB, Capital Markets & Wealth

The recent Euromoney award reflects a culmination of disciplined strategy and execution across Morgan Stanley’s businesses. Key pillars include capital strength, leadership alignment, and global integration. The firm’s strong Tier-1 ratio and large deposit base provided stability during macroeconomic headwinds and enabled it to support client needs when many competitors retrenched. [1]

Leadership restructuring under CEO Ted Pick—with global co-heads of investment banking (Eli Gross, Simon Smith, Mo Assomull) and co-heads of global capital markets (Evan Damast, Henrik Gobel)—has sharpened accountability and sector focus. This aligns with Morgan Stanley’s strategy of being both product-agnostic and globally diversified. [1]

Transaction-level performance underpins the accolades. The bank did ~309 public M&A deals worth ~$633 billion in 2024 (~26 % share globally), was first globally in ECM (IPOs, follow-ons), and delivered standout DCM mandates (e.g. bonds for large corporates). [1] This comprehensive strength contrasts with other banks that may excel in one area but lag in breadth. [2]

Recent results (Q3 2025) show these strengths are accelerating: investment banking revenues up ~44 %, equities trading up ~35 %, record revenue overall ($18.2 billion) with a large investment banking pipeline. Wealth & asset management divisions are expanding toward a long-term goal of $10 trillion in client assets. [2][3]

Strategic implications: Morgan Stanley’s model of combining investment banking, markets, and wealth/asset management gives it resilience and multiple levers for growth. As equity, IPO, and M&A windows reopen, the firm is well positioned. Risks include whether this momentum can be sustained amid rate shifts, capital costs, regulatory scrutiny, competition from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and emerging regional players, and whether the bank can maintain efficiency while growing scale.

Open questions remain: How will Morgan Stanley fare in a potential downturn in capital markets? Will its wealth/asset management pipeline be sufficient to offset volatility in banking income? How will it defend share in fintech, digital platforms, and non-bank disrupters? Also, how will macro risks (geopolitical, regulatory, interest rates) impact its ability to execute such large transactions?