Comment: Morgan Stanley's Chief Must Go If The Firm Wants Its Brand To Shine - Phil Purcell Should Bow Out Of Morgan Stanley Before The Crisis Of Confidence Does More Damage.

Banker, The, May, 2005

Time to go? Phil Purcell needs to bow out gracefully from Morgan Stanley. The chairman and CEO is now making too many waves the firm. Damaging stories appear in the press regularly, top investment bankers have deserted, are deserting and will desert, and Standard & Poor's changed its credit rating outlook on the bank from stable to negative.

In an interview in December, Mr Purcell told The Banker that he did not consider himself to be a commercial banker or an investment banker but the leader of a diversified financial company. All the more weak and inexplicable - except as an attempt to buy off opposition - was his April decision to spin off Discover Bank, the seventh-largest credit card issuer, when his enthusiasm for the business was apparent to all....

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