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Morgan Stanley to buy E*Trade in $13-bn deal

Bid to boost wealth management unit; Firm to get $360 bn of retail client assets

Morgan Stanley said on Thursday it would buy discount brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp. in an all-stock deal worth about $13 billion, the biggest deal by a Wall Street bank since the financial crisis.

The deal will help Morgan Stanley boost its wealth management unit, which CEO James Gorman has been trying to build to insulate the bank from weak periods for trading and investment banking. Morgan Stanley will get E*Trade’s $360 billion of client assets. E*Trade’s revenue growth has taken a hit in recent years from the emergence of digital upstarts called roboadvisers, falling commissions and lower interest rates.

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