Morgan Stanley opens 1,400-strong back-office in Bangalore

Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley on Wednesday opened a back-office in Bangalore to help its global operations, which has a capacity to accommodate up to 1,400 employees.

It will provide support services to business units across geographies, complementing the growth of other support centers in Mumbai, a Morgan Stanley statement said, without disclosing investment details.

"Our focus is to tap into unique pockets of expertise and talent around the world to provide support to our global businesses," Jim Rosenthal, its New York-based chief operating officer, said after inaugurating the facility.

He said that India is an "increasing priority market" given the quality and size of the talent pool, adding that Bangalore was chosen for its strengths like availability of talented graduates, and being an established finance and technology centre.

The company has started out with 500 employees at the 1.84 lakh sqft facility. It already employs 2,400 at its similar facility in Mumbai, which currently helps the global operations on technology, operations, finance, fund services, compliance and other specialised functions, apart from housing Morgan Stanley India's business units.