MS vs SAN Comparison

Morgan Stanley is a massive global financial services firm, with offices in 42 countries and more than 82,000 employees as of year-end 2025. The firm cut its teeth in investment banking and institutional trading, where it maintains a strong presence today, but generates the lion share of its income from wealth and asset management franchises, where it boasted $9.3 trillion in client assets at the end of 2025. After reincorporation as a bank holding company in the wake of the global financial crisis, Morgan Stanley also boasts a top 10 banking franchise by deposits, with more than $400 billion in customer deposits, predominately attributable to cash sweeps from its wealth management and brokerage businesses.

Santander's focus is on retail and commercial banking. Latin America is geographically the most significant operation, with Brazil making the largest contribution. Its continental European business is mainly in Spain and Portugal. Santander's UK presence is the result of its acquisition of Abbey building society. In the US, Santander operates a vehicle finance business and a regional bank focused on the Northeastern states.