Mortgage employees at Morgan Stanley's private banking division were pressured to approve home loans for wealthy clients even when applications raised serious underwriting concerns.
The finding comes from a Wall Street Journal investigation drawing on current and former employees, internal documents, and a whistleblower complaint filed with federal regulators.
The allegations span years of conduct inside the bank's private lending operation, which is integrated with Morgan Stanley's $8 trillion wealth-management business.
Federal regulators, including the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), are reviewing the claims, the Journal reported.
At the center of the dispute is a referral structure in which financial advisers receive a fee — calculated as a percentage of each loan's total value, with higher payouts for larger loans — for routing wealthy clients to the mortgage desk.
Advisers also complete satisfaction surveys on the lending process that feed directly into the performance reviews and bonus assessments of mortgage staff.
Underwriters were given targets to maintain satisfaction scores of 95% or better, according to an internal document reviewed by the Journal.
Former employees told the Journal that advisers sometimes threatened to escalate disputes to senior executives.
In one instance spanning 2018 to 2022, an adviser reportedly claimed to have direct access to then-chief executive James Gorman when pushing for a loan the mortgage team had questioned. Gorman declined to comment through a Morgan Stanley spokesman.
Among the most serious claims in the Journal's reporting is that wealthy clients repeatedly applied for owner-occupied mortgages, which carry lower interest rates and smaller down payment requirements than investment or second-home loans, while evidence pointed to investment use.
Misrepresenting intended occupancy to obtain favorable loan terms constitutes mortgage fraud under federal law.
The Fed questioned the whistleblower about underwriting practices and the degree to which financial advisers influenced loan decisions, according to people familiar with the matter. FinCEN is also reviewing the allegations.
Occupancy misrepresentation remains among the most prevalent fraud types in the US market. Matt Seguin, senior principal of fraud solutions at Cotality, previously told Mortgage Professional America that borrowers seeking favorable owner-occupied terms are a consistent source of risk — a pattern he described as driven by the appeal of lower interest rates available on owner-occupied mortgage applications.
A Morgan Stanley spokesman said the bank's mortgage unit "adheres to robust underwriting standards, supported by extensive internal risk management and regulatory oversight," and that "there is no evidence that any loan was inappropriately extended."
The bank said its portfolio carries default rates well below industry averages and called the suggestion that it had compromised its underwriting standards "false."
Patrick M. Mincey, attorney for the whistleblower, rejected that position. "Our client's information reveals a Morgan Stanley culture which flouts federal regulations, functioning not as a bank but rather as a no-questions-asked rubber stamp for the Wealth Management Division's financial advisers," Mincey said.
MPA has previously reported on how a former non-QM underwriter described nearly identical dynamics, including being pressured by sales teams to approve loans he had flagged as suspect, underscoring that this tension between origination targets and underwriting integrity is not unique to one institution.
Morgan Stanley's statement said it was "unaware of any regulatory matter, inquiry or investigation" arising from its mortgage lending business.
This story originally appeared on Mortgage Professional America.
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