Morgan Stanley profit surges 300% at £2.8bn

Morgan Stanley made a profit of $4.5 billion (£2.8bn) last year after setting aside $16bn to pay its 62,500 staff.

The US bank's full-year report showed revenue of $31.6bn, compared with $23.4bn a year ago. Profits more than tripled from $1.3bn in 2009.

Morgan Stanley said pay expenses of $16bn increased from $14.4bn a year ago, but decreased as a proportion of revenue from 62 per cent to 51 per cent.

The average Morgan stanley employee received about $256,000 or 160,000 - up 7.5 per cent from 2009.

The bank's rival Goldman Sachs, which reported results on Wednesday, paid an average of 270,000 per employee last year, down on the year before but up as a proportion of revenue.

Morgan Stanley president and CEO, James P Gorman, said: "Morgan Stanley delivered improved performance across most of our businesses during the fourth quarter, and the strength of our premier client franchise was evidenced by participation in virtually every major transaction that helped raise capital for governments and leading corporations across the globe.

"Despite this year's challenging markets, we delivered strong results in investment banking enhancing our leadership positions in M&A, global equity and IPOs based on the strength of our banking, capital markets and equities teams."