MORGAN Stanley said it took a $70-million charge tied to tax-reporting errors by its brokerage business from 2011 to 2016.
A provision to cover that charge increased 2016 noncompensation expenses by a similar amount, the New York-based firm said on Monday in an annual regulatory filing.
Morgan Stanley is in “advanced discussions” with the IRS to resolve any client tax underpayments, according to the filing. The company said it will notify any customers that may have overpaid taxes and reimburse them.
“We are committed to making this right for our clients with minimal inconvenience to them,” Wesley McDade, a spokesman for the bank, said in an e-mailed statement.
Separately, Morgan Stanley said it could incur a loss of about €209 million ($221.3 million) as a result of a 2016 lawsuit filed by the Austrian state of Salzburg involving fixed-income and commodities derivatives transactions from 2005 to 2012. Salzburg alleged that it had lacked the capacity and authority to enter into such deals, according to the filing. Morgan Stanley has disputed that claim.
Earlier, Morgan Stanley began scouting for office space in Frankfurt and Dublin for an enlarged European Union hub following the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the political bloc, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The bank may initially move about 300 workers to one of the cities, the people said without giving a time frame. They asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.
“Our focus is on ensuring that we can continue to service our clients whatever the Brexit outcome,” Hugh Fraser, a spokesman for Morgan Stanley, said by e-mail. “Our strong franchise and material presence in Europe gives us many options, and we will adapt as the details of Brexit become clear. Given all of this, no decisions have yet been made.”
International banks have begun looking to move jobs out of the UK after Prime Minister Theresa May said she plans to pull Britain out of the single market. Global banks in London may have to shift €1.8 trillion ($1.9 trillion) of assets to the continent after Brexit is completed, putting as many as 30,000 UK jobs at risk, according to Brussels-based research group Bruegel.
Before the vote, Bloomberg News reported that Morgan Stanley would likely move 1,000 of about 6,000 UK employees out of the country in the event of Brexit. Morgan Stanley President Colm Kelleher said the firm would likely move its local headquarters to either Dublin or Frankfurt. Bank executives said after the referendum that New York would likely be the big winner from Brexit, as US firms would probably allocate headcount away from Europe altogether.
Dublin and Frankfurt are among a number of European cities pitching for business from UK-based banks, drugmakers and asset managers after the referendum. Germany’s financial regulator offered to allow most banks that move operations there to keep current models for setting capital requirements for as long as two years, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month.
Paris is pitching itself as the only global financial center left in the EU after Brexit, Dublin is stressing that its laws and regulations are similar to Britain, and Madrid is emphasizing its lower costs for office space and labor.
Losing so-called passporting rights could result in a reduction of more than 25 percent in the UK’s total financial services trade, the London School of Economics said in its Growth Commission Report on Thursday.
“Brexit poses a threat to the preeminence of the city of London,” the group said, referring to the capital’s financial district. “The major threat for financial services trade is the loss of passporting rights.”