Morgan Stanley Weighs $1.3 Billion Dallas Bet

Everything’s bigger in Texas. Including, increasingly, Wall Street’s presence.

The latest big bank to consider planting deeper roots in the fertile Texas soil is Morgan Stanley, which is weighing a $1.3 billion operational hub in Dallas. Of course, it won’t be alone in the Lone Star state, as it’s more than just the brisket that is luring the financial industry to Y’all Street.

Hook ’Em Horns

The advantages of Texas are hard to overlook for the financial sector: lower taxes, a more stable (and, critically, looser) regulatory landscape, attractively affordable cost of living for employees, at least compared with Manhattan. The latter reason is in part why Apollo Global Management said it chose Austin, Texas, as the location for its second headquarters earlier this month; the $1 trillion asset management firm told the Financial Times it will be a hub for new hires.

Goldman Sachs is in the process of building a $500 million Dallas-based campus, not far from where Bank of America is also planning to set up shop in an under-development skyscraper set to house 1,000 employees. Last year, the financial industry had 9% more job postings in Texas than New York, according to non-profit business advocacy group Partnership for New York City. JPMorgan’s Texas headcount surpassed its New York headcount in 2024.

For Morgan Stanley, the move would come with a few bonus points:

• Last week, the Dallas City Council approved an economic incentive package that would grant the bank up to $18.5 million in economic development grants, as well as up to a 90% tax abatement over 10 years on business personal property for the 709,000-square-foot tower it is considering.
• If Morgan Stanley moves forward, the bank says the location would support 3,500 jobs through 2035 and 1,000 more by 2039.

Exchange Rate: By that point, the long-planned Texas Stock Exchange will presumably be entering into maturity. The planned exchange, which aims to provide a lower-cost on-ramp to going public among other goals, is set to launch later this summer, with corporate listings expected as soon as October.

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