Morgan Stanley Dean Witter opens local office

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Financial services firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, formed as a result of the 1997 merger of Dean Witter, Discover & Co. and Morgan Stanley Group Inc., opened its first Springfield office April 24 with several former A.G. Edwards employees, according to senior vice president John Calhoun, who heads the office. |ret||ret||tab|

"Morgan Stanley Dean Witter wanted to come to town, and they could either train new brokers, or try and attract what I believe is the best piece of business in town, and we had it at A.G. Edwards. After 19 years (at A.G. Edwards), it seemed a little strange, leaving," Calhoun said.|ret||ret||tab|

Registered Sales Assistant Dana Whittington and Administrative Assistant Tracy Adler also left AG Edwards to join Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Ryan Patterson, a recent graduate, will be licensed as a broker in September and will handle most of the local office's stock trading, Calhoun said. |ret||ret||tab|

"About 80 percent of our business is managed money; about 20 to 25 percent of it is still what I call production business, or stocks and bonds," Calhoun said. |ret||ret||tab|

Calhoun said he thinks Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's new presence in Springfield is part of a nationwide effort of the company to enter mid-sized markets.|ret||ret||tab|

"Obviously Springfield is a dynamic market. It's a thriving community that hadn't been entered yet by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. There are a lot of underwriting opportunities here, there's more money here than there used to be. The company is in Kansas City and St. Louis, so why not Springfield?" Calhoun said. |ret||ret||tab|

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is the largest equity underwriter and commercial lender in the world, Calhoun said.|ret||ret||tab|

"Morgan Stanley was a huge underwriting firm worldwide. Dean Witter had been a retail-oriented organization. The merger of the two gave Morgan Stanley a distribution system, so it was a good merger," Calhoun said. He said Morgan Stanley Dean Witter has its headquarters in New York and has about 77,000 employees worldwide. |ret||ret||tab|

Calhoun said the local office's setup, with one broker to head it and a team of support employees, is a new concept for the company when entering a new market. |ret||ret||tab|

"Only in the last six months to a year have they opened what they call convenience offices," Calhoun said. [[In-content Ad]]