Investment Giant Morgan Stanley Maps Out Plans to Join the Rapidly Growing ETF Market

Morgan Stanley Investment unit is set to launch an exchange-traded fund service, with plans to market its first ETFs later this year, according to a report by InvestmentNews on Tuesday.

The proposal was disclosed internally this week in a memo from the managing director Daniel Simkowitz, citing recruitment from Goldman Sachs and BlackRock who will head the new unit.

Simkowitz stated that the multi-asset ETF platform will comprise active and systematic strategies that will complement the company’s leadership in separately managed accounts.

In the last two weeks, Morgan Stanley appointed Anthony Rochte as the global head of ETFs and Allyson Wallace as the global head of ETFs capital markets.

Rochte has over 18 years of experience in the ETF ecosystem, including assisting in launching the ETF platform at Fidelity Investments.

Wallace brings experience and expertise in fixed-income, recommending a diverse, multi-asset ETF portfolio.

Morgan Stanley is one of the major asset management players that have yet to join the fast-growing ETF market, which recorded $1trilion of inflows in 2021. MS: NYSE is up +0.72%