Morgan Stanley Is One of the Least Ethical Companies in Our Database
Morgan Stanley manages over $1.5 trillion in assets. It offers "sustainable investing" products to clients. Its Institute for Sustainable Investing publishes research on ESG integration.
Our data scores Morgan Stanley at -27 average across 11 ethical values. That makes it one of the worst-performing companies in a database of 5,300+.
The Full Scorecard
Average: -27. Eight negative scores. Three positive.
How Bad Is -27?
For context, here is how Morgan Stanley compares to other large-cap names:
| Company | Average Score |
|---|---|
| Meta | -27 |
| Morgan Stanley | -27 |
| Halliburton | -28 |
| JPMorgan | -19 |
| Goldman Sachs | -24 |
Morgan Stanley is level with Meta. It scores worse than JPMorgan and sits alongside oil services giant Halliburton.
The Weapons Score
The -70 on No War, No Weapons is driven by financing activities. Morgan Stanley provides capital to defence contractors and has documented involvement in arms financing tracked by organisations like the Don't Bank on the Bomb coalition.
The -60 on Honest & Fair Business reflects regulatory fines, compliance failures, and documented market manipulation cases across multiple jurisdictions.
The Irony
A company that markets sustainable investing to its clients while scoring -27 on independent ethical assessment is not a paradox. It is a business model. The fees from sustainable investment products do not change the underlying conduct of the firm selling them.