DBRS Finalizes AAA Rating of Morgan Stanley’s FDIC Guaranteed Issuance

DBRS has today finalized the AAA rating of the $2.25 billion 2.90% senior notes due December 1, 2010; the $2.50 billion 3.25% senior notes due December 1, 2011; the $500 million floating-rate notes due June 15, 2011; and the $500 million floating-rate notes due December 1, 2011, issued by Morgan Stanley (collectively, the Notes). The Notes are issued pursuant to the Prospectus, dated January 25, 2006; the Senior Debt Indenture, dated November 1, 2004; and the Prospectus Supplement, dated November 26, 2008. The AAA rating is based on the explicit guarantee provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP), which is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Under the TLGP, the FDIC guarantees payment of qualifying debt issued by eligible U.S. bank holding companies, such as Morgan Stanley.

The AAA rating reflects DBRS’s opinion as to the guarantor’s ability to honor the guarantee as determined by DBRS’s internal assessment of the sovereign. All other debt ratings, including Morgan Stanley’s AA (low) Issuer & Senior Debt rating, remain at their current levels. The trend on all long-term non-guaranteed ratings remains Negative; the trend was changed to Negative on September 17, 2008.

Note:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The applicable methodology is Rating Banks and Bank Holding Companies Operating in the United States, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This is a Corporate (Financial Institutions) rating.