When it comes to Morgan Stanley's next CEO, is Ted Pick … the pick?
Terrible puns aside, succession plans at the Wall Street bank are top of mind after James Gorman, the firm's CEO, in May announced plans to step down within 12 months.
Pick, who serves as Morgan Stanley's copresident, head of institutional securities, and cohead of corporate strategy, has long been considered a front-runner for the role.
The Morgan Stanley lifer, with his Hermès ties and hard-charging personality, represents the prototypical banker, Hayley Cuccinello writes in her profile of Pick.
"Say, 'Give me a Wall Street guy,' and they will give you Ted Pick," one of Pick's former employees told Hayley.
But just because Pick can play the part doesn't mean he's the only one suited for it.
Pick was one of three Morgan Stanley executives — along with his fellow copresident Andy Saperstein and Dan Simkowitz, the head of investment management — named by the bank's board as candidates.
Saperstein, who leads Morgan Stanley's booming wealth-management business, represents a real threat to Pick's bid for the throne, which seemed his to lose as little as a five years ago. Wealth management accounted for roughly 60% of the bank's profits last quarter.
Meanwhile, Pick's division is facing a federal investigation and lost nearly a billion dollars in 2021 as a result of the implosion of the investment firm Archegos Capital.
In many ways, the choice between Pick and Saperstein is representative of a larger trend on Wall Street and could serve as a pulse check on the wider industry.
Volatile and unpredictable businesses, like trading, are falling out of favor. Units with more reliable revenues, like wealth management, are in vogue.
So if Saperstein were to land the top job, it could be an indication of the changing tides on Wall Street.
But if Pick reigns supreme, it just goes to show that old habits die hard on the Street.
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