Morgan Stanley Settles Race Discrimination Suit

Morgan Stanley has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the investment bank of discriminating against black and Latino employees in its retail brokerage division since 2002.

The suit was brought on behalf of about 1,200 black and Latino financial advisers and trainees employed at Morgan Stanley since October 12, 2002, Bloomberg reported.

According to the report, the five-year agreement will establish a “significant” fund to settle claims, the plaintiffs’ lawyers and Morgan Stanley said in a statement yesterday. The terms are confidential pending a court filing “in the near future,” the statement said.

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The settlement called for Morgan Stanley to also change its policies on recruiting, account distribution and partnership arrangements, among others.

The agreement comes on the heels of another settlement of discrimination charges. The firm agreed to pay $46 million to settle a lawsuit by thousands of its female financial advisers, who claimed the firm discriminated by paying its female brokers less than their male counterparts. (See Morgan Stanley Settles Gender Discrimination Suit for $46M).

Barclays Launches International REIT ETF

Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has announced the launch of the iShares S&P World ex-U.S. Property Index Fund on the NYSE.

The new iShares ETF (exchange-traded fund) has an annual expense ratio of 0.48%, and is the first international REIT iShares ETF, according to the announcement.

“The iShares S&P World ex-U.S. Property Index Fund meets several important needs of investors – accessing a market with a cost effective, tradable investment vehicle and diversification beyond what U.S. real estate can provide,” said Noel Archard, Head of U.S. iShares Product Development, in the announcement. “As more REIT and REIT-like structures are created outside of the U.S., BGI expects more individual investors and financial advisors to consider international real estate as an investment.”

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As of June 30, 2007, iShares has introduced 17 new iShares Funds and had taken in $22 billion.

More information can be found at http://www.ishares.com.

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