Most Wall Street employees can’t access sites like Facebook and Twitter, a move by banks to control the dissemination of information.
But Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division broke ranks on Wednesday, announcing that it plans to give its army of almost 17,800 financial advisers access to Twitter.
Well, up to a point.
While the lure of Twitter is its immediacy, Morgan Stanley employees won’t be sending anything out unscripted. All posts must first be approved by the firm.
Financial advisers can also select from a library of preapproved status updates that cover market updates, economic and investment insights and wealth management topics.
Andy Saperstein, the head of United States wealth management, wrote in a memo to employees: “The initiative will launch in late June and will initially include approximately 600 advisors firm wide who will have access to LinkedIn and partial use of Twitter. This first group includes our Chairman’s Club members and many others who have been working with us for the past year to get to this solution.”
“You will have the ability, with the click of a button, to share pre-approved “status updates” or “tweets” with your social and professional networks,” Mr. Saperstein wrote.
He said he expected the rollout to be complete in about six months.
Regulators, worried about investment scams, keep a close eye on what brokers and other Wall Street staffers are saying. As a result, Wall Street has been slow to embrace social media.
Mr. Saperstein’s memo is below:
I am excited to announce that MSSB will begin a staged roll-out for Advisors to use Social Media. We are the first major wealth management firm to announce a vendor solution for our Advisors to use key social networking sites to market themselves and share the firm’s intellectual content, while complying with regulatory requirements.
Over the last few years, the emergence of Social Media has changed the way in which people communicate with each other, and companies interact with clients. MSSB is embracing how Social Media is changing communication and is at the forefront of the industry in how we are incorporating it into our business strategy.
In the coming weeks, Morgan Stanley will implement a technology solution that will capture and retain all communications on approved social networking sites to comply with regulatory requirements. This technology will enable MSSB Advisors to fully leverage the power of social networking sites in a compliant way.
In addition to the compliance component, we will also have a tool for Advisors to distribute Firm approved research and content, providing you with a powerful way to share our unique intellectual content with clients and prospects. You will have the ability, with the click of a button, to share pre-approved “status updates” or “tweets” with your social and professional networks.
The initiative will launch in late June and will initially include approximately 600 Advisors firmwide who will have access to LinkedIn and partial use of Twitter. This first group includes our Chairman’s Club members and many others who have been working with us for the past year to get to this solution. We expect to open it up to the rest of the Field within 6 months.
For those participating in the initial roll-out, shortly you will receive an email from Lauren Boyman with more details on training and how to get started by getting your profiles approved.
This roll-out will continue our recent history of innovative communications strategies, including being the first firm to introduce an internal social networking site for Financial Advisors (Advisor Insights) and the first to introduce texting capabilities. Also, building on this momentum, later this summer the GIC will present an iPad application that was recently piloted with positive feedback. The app brings GIC’s On The Markets to you in a digital and interactive format to help you engage with clients.
MSSB is committed to continue leading our competition in innovation. This will be a significant competitive advantage. We look forward to getting your feedback as this very important initiative progresses.