Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick signaled the bank is “wide awake” to acquisition opportunities on Tuesday, as U.S. regulators take a more accommodating stance toward bank deals. Speaking at the bank’s flagship investor conference on June 9, Pick said Morgan Stanley is “keeping an eye” on M&A activity in the sector and wants to be prepared to act if the right opportunities emerge.
“There could be some M&A activity in the space, and we want to be wide awake to that,” Pick said, according to Reuters. The CEO highlighted wealth management and asset management as potential areas where the bank could pursue inorganic growth.
The shift in regulatory appetite for bank mergers has created a more favorable environment for dealmaking. A dramatic shift in federal banking policy sparked a surge in bank merger activity, according to Fitch Ratings, with a regulatory reversal opening doors that had been closed for years. The Fifth Third Bancorp’s $10.9 billion acquisition of Comerica, announced in October 2025 and completed in early 2026, exemplified the new openness: the deal received regulatory approval in January 2026 and closed as scheduled, creating the ninth-largest U.S. bank with $288 billion in assets.
Morgan Stanley’s own dealmaking momentum is evident in its financial performance. The bank’s investment banking revenue surged 36% in the first quarter of 2026 to $2.12 billion, driven primarily by M&A advisory fees on completed transactions. This strength reflects broader confidence in the dealmaking environment, which has rebounded sharply after years of regulatory uncertainty and elevated borrowing costs.
Pick emphasized that any acquisition would need to meet a high bar. “M&A in this industry is really challenging and we want to get it right,” he said. Morgan Stanley’s most recent major acquisition was the $7 billion purchase of investment management firm Eaton Vance in 2021, followed by the acquisition of private shares platform EquityZen last year.
Other major banks have signaled similar appetite for deals. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said last month that his company could deploy $10 billion to $20 billion into M&A opportunities over the next couple of years, underscoring how the regulatory environment shift is prompting strategic reassessments across Wall Street’s largest institutions.
Sources
- Reuters — Morgan Stanley CEO statement on M&A readiness, regulatory environment, and investment banking revenue performance
- Fitch Ratings — Analysis of regulatory reversal and surge in bank merger activity
- Fifth Third Bank — Comerica acquisition announcement and completion details
- CNN, WSJ, CBS News — Fifth Third-Comerica merger details and regulatory approval timeline
