Legal Business

Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank blame litigation for drop in Q4 profits

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Financial institutions report multibillion-dollar effects of post-crisis costs

Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank have become the latest major financial institutions to declare that their earnings have been hit hard by litigation costs with Morgan Stanley in January reporting a fourth quarter 78% drop in net income to $192m, compared to $890m in its third quarter, due to legal costs and weak fixed income trading.

Revenue for the period rose from $7bn to $7.8bn since last year but pre-tax legal costs of $1.2bn meant that earnings for the quarter were almost wiped out, the FT reported in January.