Morgan Stanley ups stake in digital race with hire from Schwab

Last October we reported that Morgan Stanley's then president of wealth management, Greg Fleming, had hinted that the bank was planning to enter the robo-advisory space. Yesterday, the firm announced that it had hired Charles Schwab's Naureen Hassan to oversee strategy and marketing of digital platforms for its financial advisers and clients. Hassan will assume the newly created role of chief digital officer of wealth management. Schwab launched its robo-advisory platform in March 2015, accumulating $5.3bn in the first nine months. Jim Rosenthal, COO of Morgan Stanley said Hassan's record of successful innovation "will sharpen our ability to compete for today's high-net-worth individuals.

Morgan Stanley has created a new, digital role in its wealth-management business and appointed a Charles Schwab veteran to fill it.

Naureen Hassan will become Morgan Stanley's first chief digital officer for wealth management, according to a statement from the firm.

Hassan had previously served as executive vice president, investment services segments and platforms at Charles Schwab, where she oversaw web and mobile channels, among other things.

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Investing in digital is an important step for the global firm best known for its prized wealth-management division.

Morgan Stanley has built award-winning mobile apps and will focus on developing new digital resources going forward, according to the statement.

Earlier this year, CEO James Gorman and president Colm Kelleher announced in a memo that COO Jim Rosenthal would lead the development of Morgan Stanley's digital offering for financial advisers and wealth-management clients, working closely with coheads of wealth management, Shelley O'Connor and Andy Saperstein.

"Digital technology and its potential for our business is one of the most important strategic opportunities we face," they said in a statement at the time.

Hassan's "record of successful innovation bringing exceptional digital resources to financial advisors and clients will sharpen our ability to compete for today's high net worth individuals as well as those emerging in the next generation," Rosenthal said in Wednesday's statement.

Morgan Stanley has undergone a big management shakeup in recent months.

Greg Fleming, the president of the Morgan Stanley's prized wealth-management business, left the firm. Executive Colm Kelleher took over as sole president of the firm.

It has also shaken up its trading business after appointing equities chief Ted Pick as global head of the sales and trading division.

A number of people from the institutional-securities group have also moved over to wealth management.