Growing at a fast pace - Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley, the world’s leading financial service firm, has clench the $5.1 trillion banking industry by acquiring the Nan Tung bank.s

The New York based Morgan Stanley today revealed in an e-mail that the Zhuhai-based Nan Tung Bank, previously funded by a Macau- based unit of Bank of China, is a subsidiary of the former. However, Morgan Stanley did not unveil any details of the price.

The deal was given a nod by China Banking Regulatory Commission. Nan Tung Bank has a single branch with less than 40 employees, but the deal will enable it to fortify its China operations and provide the customers with a broader range of services and products.

Morgan Stanley will get a banking license which will permit it to provide services and products to customers based mainly in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province. It can just provide services based on foreign currency; as it is yet to win a license to offer local-currency denominated services.

"We want to build the leading, fully integrated financial services firm in China and the acquisition of Nan Tung Bank is another important milestone in our pursuit of that strategy," John Mack, Morgan Stanley's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

He further added that the deal will help them toughen their position in the banking industry and will provide leadership in the increasingly important sector. They are the first among their equals to establish an onshore commercial banking platform in China.

Due to gradual deregulation of the Banking industry by China in the last past five years, other foreign banks have doubled their China profits. Overseas banks are leaving no stones unturned to establish themselves in the fastest growing sector, benefiting their distribution channels by spending more than $17.9 billion purchasing stakes in local loaners.

Morgan Stanley, founded in 1935, is an investment bank, retail broker, and credit card provider with headquarters in New York City.

Morgan Stanley is an industry leader in many areas, particularly equity and debt underwriting and investment banking. The company considers its brand name and reputation as a longtime leading financial firm among its most valuable assets.

By wholly acquiring the Nan Tung Bank, Morgan Stanley can apply for the local-currency license without delay, rather than waiting for five years, had it started from the scratch.

Rival banks have also bought minority stakes in Chinese lenders, but they are not entitled to offer services on their own.

Besides Foreign banks, there are 70,000 branches managed by the countries leading lenders, including Bank of China. The combined mesh of foreign banks is overshadowed by the countries branches.

To offer Yuan-denominated services to local residents and tap the nation's $1.9 trillion of household savings, the overseas banks have to integrate their branches in China.

Foreign banks are permitted to possess up to 25 percent of local lenders, with a single financial institution restricted to no more than 20 percent.

Despite offering such a diverse array of services, Morgan Stanley is an industry leader in underwriting Initial public offerings of stock and has recruited more than 55,000 total employees worldwide.

Morgan Stanley is considered the industry leader in information technology, with an IT budget rivaling the operating budget of many medium and large software companies.