The FINANCIAL — Morgan Stanley announced an agreement to migrate the Barclays Global Stock and Rewards business to Shareworks by Morgan Stanley (Shareworks). The deal is expected to bring approximately 40 new corporate clients to Shareworks, encompassing more than 140,000 stock plan employees.
Barclays’ corporate stock plan clients have already been using Shareworks’ stock plan administration services platform for the past eight years through a white-label arrangement. In order to ensure a seamless transition, clients will continue to be managed by their current Shareworks service and relationship management teams and will continue to benefit from the same leading technology platform that both companies have delivered.
“We are excited to welcome these new corporate clients and their employees to the Shareworks family,” commented Marcos Lopez, Co-Head, Morgan Stanley at Work. “We have shared a long and successful partnership with Barclays. This is a great opportunity to increase the scale of our stock plan business in the UK and underlines our commitment to our global workplace solutions.”
Shareworks in the EMEA region provides technology and outsourced services to European issuers across both public and private markets. Established in the UK in 2012, Shareworks in EMEA has more than 120 employees in the UK, Germany and Spain now servicing over 100 companies. Prior to the migration of the Barclays stock plan business, Shareworks’ EMEA client base employed more than 125,000 stock plan participants who hold more than €14 billion (US$16.5 billion) in stock plan assets. With corporate clients in the UK and across Europe, Shareworks is well positioned to service the growing trend for equity compensation in the region.
This agreement is the latest example of Morgan Stanley’s commitment to become a leader in providing financial solutions to companies and their employees.
Morgan Stanley acquired Solium Capital Inc. and its Shareworks platform in May 2019, and the company was rebranded Shareworks by Morgan Stanley. Shareworks is a leading global stock plan administration platform that provides software and administration services to more than 3,900 corporate clients with 2.7 million participants in more than 150 countries, transacting in over 50 currencies.1
Shareworks is a part of the Morgan Stanley at Work suite of financial solutions which includes Equity Compensation, Retirement and Financial Wellness. Morgan Stanley at Work combines cutting-edge planning and risk management software, Morgan Stanley intellectual capital and financial education delivered through multiple channels to enable employees to build a holistic plan to achieve their financial goals. Shareworks currently has offices in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
In September, Morgan Stanley announced a strategic alliance between Shareworks and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation which will provide market leading stock plan administrative services to executives and employees of Japanese companies.
Earlier this month, Morgan Stanley completed the acquisition of E*TRADE which further expands Morgan Stanley’s leadership in Workplace Wealth with over 4.6 million stock plan participants, approximately 4,730 corporate plans and over $580 billion in combined stock plan balances.2
In May, Morgan Stanley announced its plan to launch Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Canada, a full-service wealth management offering to complement the existing Shareworks by Morgan Stanley stock plan administrative services it provides to executives and employees who reside in Canada (subject to regulatory approval).
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. With offices in more than 41 countries, the Firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals.
