SEC-registered wealth management firm Broker-dealer affiliated
Morgan Stanley
As of its Form ADV filed September 28, 2026, Morgan Stanley, an SEC-registered, broker-dealer affiliated wealth management firm in Purchase, New York, reported $2.0 trillion in regulatory assets under management across 2,703,720 accounts, ranking #1 among all wealth firms in New York by assets.
Registration
- Registration
- SEC-registered, Approved
- CRD number
- 149777
- SEC file number
- 801-70103
- Registered since
- May 11, 2009
- Latest Form ADV filing
- September 28, 2026
- Legal name
- MORGAN STANLEY SMITH BARNEY LLC
- Organized as
- Limited Liability Company
- Fiscal year ends
- December
- Other offices
- 627
Key figures
- Regulatory assets under management
- $2.0 trillion
- Discretionary
- $1.4 trillion (73.1%)
- Non-discretionary
- $527.4 billion
- Accounts
- 2,703,720 (2,159,438 discretionary)
- Clients
- 3,120,704, approximate as reported
- Employees
- 29,481
- Advisory staff
- 13,000 performing investment advisory functions
- Average account
- $725,625
- Asset growth, 1 year
- 18.9% (from $1.7 trillion a year earlier)
- Asset growth, 3-year annual rate
- 18.3% (from $1.2 trillion three years earlier)
- Asset growth, 5-year annual rate
- 12.8% (from $1.1 trillion five years earlier)
- Client growth, 1 year
- 6.3% (from 2,936,285)
Broker-dealer affiliated. The firm is itself a broker-dealer as well as an investment adviser (Form ADV Item 6.A(1)). It is ranked among all wealth firms, the directory's view that includes wirehouses and broker-dealer firms, not in the main lists of independent RIAs. How firms are classed.
Growth rates come from the SEC's yearly snapshots and are left blank when the years are not comparable.
Rankings
Among all wealth firms, including wirehouses and broker-dealer firms.
Assets over time
Data table
| As of | RAUM |
|---|---|
| October 1, 2010 | $309.9 billion |
| October 3, 2011 | $397.6 billion |
| October 1, 2012 | $329.7 billion |
| October 1, 2013 | $393.5 billion |
| October 1, 2014 | $460.7 billion |
| October 1, 2015 | $528.2 billion |
| October 3, 2016 | $535.9 billion |
| October 2, 2017 | $598.5 billion |
| October 1, 2018 | $735.3 billion |
| October 1, 2019 | $729.2 billion |
| October 1, 2020 | $904.3 billion |
| October 4, 2021 | $1.1 trillion |
| October 3, 2022 | $1.3 trillion |
| October 5, 2023 | $1.2 trillion |
| October 1, 2024 | $1.4 trillion |
| September 2, 2025 | $1.7 trillion |
| October 2, 2026 | $2.0 trillion |
Clients and services
Client mix
| Measure | Bar | RAUM |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals (other than high net worth) 2,600,707 clients | $1.2 trillion | |
| High net worth individuals 43,631 clients | $527.6 billion | |
| Charitable organizations 39,751 clients | $79.5 billion | |
| Pension and profit sharing plans 10,466 clients | $74.9 billion | |
| Corporations or other businesses 1,982 clients | $13.9 billion | |
| State or municipal government entities 1,423 clients | $8.1 billion | |
| Banking or thrift institutions 4,257 clients | $6.4 billion | |
| Insurance companies 1,387 clients | $5.9 billion | |
| Investment companies 4 clients | $263.7 million | |
| Other 112 clients | $58.4 million |
How the firm is paid
- A percentage of assets under management
- Fixed fees
- Commissions
- Performance-based fees
- Other
Advisory services
- Financial planning
- Portfolio management for individuals or small businesses
- Portfolio management for investment companies
- Portfolio management for businesses or institutional clients
- Pension consulting
- Selection of other advisers
- Educational seminars or workshops
- Other
Financial planning clients (Item 5.H): 213500.
Wrap fee program sponsor or portfolio manager: yes.
Other business, affiliations and custody
Other business activities (Item 6.A)
- Broker-dealer
- Other financial products
Financial industry affiliations (Item 7.A)
- Broker-dealer
- Other investment adviser
- Swap dealer
- Commodity pool operator or commodity trading advisor
- Futures commission merchant
- Banking or thrift institution
- Trust company
- Insurance company or agency
- Sponsor, general partner or managing member of pooled investment vehicles
Custody (Item 9)
The firm reported custody of client cash or securities, $2.0 trillion in total.
Investment adviser representatives
- IARs registered with the firm
- 23,166
- Also registered through a broker-dealer
- 23,162
- Employees who are IARs (Form ADV 5.B(3))
- 23,077
Designations held by the firm's IARs: CFP 798, CFA 135, ChFC 55, PFS 1.
Between 3,766 and 15,082 of the firm's 23,166 IARs are registered in jurisdictions that require IAR CE. The source counts registrations by jurisdiction, and many IARs are registered in more than one, so the exact number is not knowable from it. IAR CE requirements by state.
Counts only. AdvisorIQ does not list individual people.
Disclosures
On Form ADV Item 11 the firm answered yes to 19 disclosure questions. See the detail on IAPD.
Succession and acquired firms
On Form ADV Item 4 the firm did not report succeeding to another adviser's business.
Similar-sized firms in New York
| Firm | City | RAUM |
|---|---|---|
| Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated | New York | $1.8 trillion |
| J.P. Morgan Securities LLC | New York | $429.7 billion |
| RBC Capital Markets, LLC | New York | $310.4 billion |
| Cerity Partners LLC | New York | $161.7 billion |
| Rockefeller Capital Management | New York | $99.6 billion |
The five wealth firms, broker-dealer affiliated firms included, nearest in regulatory assets with a main office in the same state.
Elsewhere
- Morgan Stanley on IAPD: Form ADV, brochures and disclosure detail.
- Firm website: www.morganstanley.com
- Wealth management firms in New York
Firm data as of October 2, 2026, from ia100226.zip. Figures are as the firm reported them; corrections are made on Form ADV and appear after the next monthly reload.
Data as of October 2, 2026, from Form ADV. Sources: SEC registered adviser data (ia100226.zip) and IAPD compilation reports. How the directory is built.