Moragn Stanley plans to hire several hundred traders

The US-based financial services major Moragn Stanley plans to hire several hundred traders over the next few years in an effort to boost its under performing securities business, says a media report.

Attributing to Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, the report by the Financial Times said that the company plans to boost its under-performing securities business by hiring several hundred traders over the next few years.

The securities business is crucial to Gorman's strategy of reviving Morgan Stanley's fortunes after a loss-making 2009 by marrying a strong investment bank with a large US retail brokerage operation, the report noted.

Gorman, who took over as CEO from John Mack in January, told the newspaper that Morgan Stanley's sales and trading unit had failed to reach many of the investors and companies who wanted to do business with the bank.

"We need to seriously grow our footprint in products like currencies, equity derivatives, commodities. We could easily be 25 per cent bigger than we are. (Investors') bias is to do more business with us, the burden is on us to deliver," Gorman said.

According to the publication, Morgan Stanley hired 350 people in the securities business last year.