Morgan Stanley creating team to educate brokers on U.S. retirement advice rule

By Olivia Oran

(Reuters) - Morgan Stanley is creating a team to educate its financial advisers about a new U.S. rule intended to protect retirement savers, a bank spokesman confirmed on Thursday.

The bank has formed a so-called Fiduciary Standard Help Desk made up of more than 10 employees who will answer calls and questions that its financial advisers may have about the rule, according to a job posting on the bank's website.

The rule, announced last week by the Department of Labor, sets a standard for brokers who sell retirement products and requires them to put clients' best interests ahead of their own bottom line.

A spokesman for Morgan Stanley said the bank is gearing up to comply with the new regulations.

Some U.S. wealth managers have been cutting fees, relying more on technology and reducing the minimum amounts clients can hold in their brokerage accounts in preparation for the rule.

On Thursday, Bank of America Corp Chief Financial Officer Paul Donofrio said during the bank's first-quarter earnings call that the rule would affect less than 10 percent of client assets for its Merrill Lynch brokerage unit.

The rule will be fully implemented by 2018.

(Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York)

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