James Gorman Will Say Something Nice About Wall Street When Wall Street Earns It

If you're looking for a cheerleader, go bark up another tree.

“Say you want to be out ahead of it and give a lot of speeches and talk about all the good we’re doing,” Gorman said today at an industry conference in New York. “And then some trader does some stupid thing like this guy at UBS did and he’s in jail and all bets are off,” Gorman said. He was referring to Kweku Adoboli, the UBS AG trader convicted of fraud this month in the largest unauthorized trading loss in British history...Traders at New York-based Morgan Stanley had too much latitude in the past, “what I call having an outsized sandbox,” Gorman, 54, said at the conference, which was sponsored by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. “Until we can be really confident we’ve got discipline around the sandboxes, I think you have to be really careful not to be holier than thou,” Gorman said. “We’re going to be in the doghouse for a while.”

Incidentally, this would a good time to mention that Gorman's bonus policy instituted last January-- STFU or GTFO-- still stands.

Wall Street bankers should likewise resist the temptation to feel sorry for themselves because many are getting lower pay, Gorman said. “There’s not a lot of sympathy,” he said. “The rest of society is going through at least as difficult a time from a much lower starting base.” Banks haven’t cut compensation enough when faced with falling profits, and “the industry is still overpaid,” Gorman said in an interview with the Financial Times published last month. Morgan Stanley will consider a new round of cost-cutting next year, and that could include lower pay, he told the FT.

Wall Street's Reputation Remains In The Doghouse, Gorman Says [Bloomberg]
Earlier: James Gorman To Morgan Stanley Employees: STFU Or GTFO