Gorman Comes Out Swinging

Literally.

The New York Times reports that in preparation for the job he took over on January 1, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman started taking boxing lessons, and the wall of his office is adorned with a photo of Muhammad Ali and the words of literary badass Rudyard Kipling. Sounds like he's ready for an old-school street fight, so he might be the perfect guy for the job.

He's taken over the reins at a fairly inauspicious time, with MS set to show their first annual loss ever. He's made it clear that there's a new sheriff in town, though, so things might start looking up as MS celebrates its 75th birthday this year. One of the big changes: a retreat from prop trading and a greater focus on investment banking.

He added that the bank now had “a sense of clarity about what we want to be” — and that it wouldn’t be trading with large amounts of its own capital. “We are a very focused investment bank,” he said, “very client-centered.”

Gorman is also pretty charitable towards his predecessor John Mack. Whether this is because he genuinely likes the guy or the fact that Mack remains chairman we'll probably never know. But Gorman made it clear that he's not Mack, and that Morgan Stanley will be a different bank under his leadership.

“There is no question there have been rough spots,” Mr. Gorman said, in his first interview since becoming chief executive on Jan. 1. “We have had periods of management turmoil, misplaced trading positions. We have invested in real estate at the wrong end of the market. Clearly there were some mistakes made, but you can’t be in a complex global bank and not have mistakes.”