Brokers are the hidden treasure of Morgan Stanley, the American bank that closed the first quarter with a profit beyond expectations thanks to its brokerage division, capable of expanding its pre-tax profits by 48% in a twelve-month comparison. Overall, first quarter 2013 earnings were $984 million, or 49 cents a share, versus a loss of $94 million a year ago. Excluding certain accounting items, earnings per share were 61 cents, above the 20-analyst average tracked by Bloomberg.
With these numbers, and despite the third consecutive quarterly fall in fixed income profits, CEO James Gorman was able to achieve his goal of doubling the bank's return on equity. Morgan Stanley also obtained all of the brokerage business from the Fed about a month ago from Citigroup. At the equity level - the company then communicates in a note - tier 1 is equal to 13,9% of risk-weighted assets, tier 1 common ratio is equal to 11,5%. Revenue climbed 18% to $8,16 billion.
