From cable to wirehouse: Morgan Stanley hires CNBC’s Kaminsky

Morgan Stanley on Tuesday announced it has hired CNBC pundit Gary Kaminsky as vice chairman of its brokerage unit.

Morgan Stanley (MS), owner of the world’s largest brokerage, hired CNBC’s Gary Kaminsky as a vice chairman in wealth management.

Kaminsky, who was the cable television network’s capital-markets editor, will work with Morgan Stanley’s financial advisers on client development, Greg Fleming, 50, president of the brokerage unit, wrote today in a memo to employees, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. Jim Wiggins, a spokesman for the New York-based bank, confirmed the memo’s contents.

Kaminsky will continue to be a CNBC contributor, according to the memo. He previously helped manage an investment portfolio of more than $12 billion at Neuberger Berman Group LLC, where he worked from 1999 to 2008, according to the memo. Neuberger Berman was part of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which collapsed in 2008 amid the financial crisis.

Morgan Stanley is seeking to improve profitability at its brokerage, which has 16,780 advisers and $1.78 trillion of client assets, the company said in January. The firm set a goal for the unit of a 15 percent pretax profit margin by the middle of this year, after posting a 12 percent margin in 2012.

“We thank Gary for all his contributions to CNBC over the years and we look forward to seeing him on our air as a contributor,” said Jennifer Dauble, a CNBC spokeswoman.

Fox Business Network reported earlier today that Morgan Stanley was considering hiring Kaminsky.
–Bloomberg News–