Morgan Stanley tinkers with branch manager pay

The retail wars have been fairly heated for the last several years. The latest sign comes from Morgan Stanley, where John Mack seems determined to build a top flight organization. It started with some downsizing. Now, he apparently wants to boost the rewards for the companies 400 branch managers. Base salaries, which range up to $150,000, will not change, but bonuses that are pegged to production will rise at least 10 percent if certain benchmarks are hit. The firm is also making a better stock purchase program available to them. Branch manager is a fairly tough job. It's a game of numbers; either you produce or not. Morgan Stanley laid off about 30 last year, and now seems bent on rewarding those who made it. Whether Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney will follow in the same vein is unclear.

For more:
- here's an AP article