$500 million is what Morgan Stanley is poised to invest – directly and indirectly – into mobile.
The investment banking empire is focusing on expanded analytics, automation and mobile software throughout 2013 and much of next year. A senior technology executive at the company says the goal is to improve services for its financial advisers and customers.
“We want to use analytics to drive a high-quality, transparent conversation so people can make the best decisions possible,” a spokesperson for Morgan Stanley tells the WSJ. “If you get the data architecture right, it makes everything else easy.”
The massive investment signifies the latest effort by the financial giant to cultivate and embrace mobile to an aggressive extend under President Greg Fleming, who says the investment is designed “to ensure and accelerate the improvement of our platform’s stability and functionality.”
The Wall Street Journal learned that the $500 million investment is partitioned into three segments. Morgan Stanley is allocating $250 million to automation software and resources to help financial advisers make trades on behalf of clients. $150 million will be dedicated to the tools allowing for improved interaction between advisers and clients on mobile, online and social outlets. And the remaining $100 million will be used for infrastructure upgrades.
