“Against the four pillars of strategy, culture, financial strength, and growth, delivering the integrated firm is foundational to durable earnings growth and 20% returns through the cycle.”

In context

“Stanley investment thesis is robust. In 2024, we deliver top-line and bottom-line strength and consistency. The full year results are strong relative to our long-term firmwide goals. We ended 2024 with total client assets at $7.9 trillion, wealth management pre-tax margins of 27%, a firm efficiency ratio of 71%, and a return on tangible of 19%. Of note, we added a new goal to achieve durable wallet share gains in institutional securities. The additional metric for institutional securities is an appropriate reflection of the expected contribution of this business segment to the firm's growth narrative. The key word is durable. There will always be market and business cycles in each of these businesses. Morgan Stanley's trusted relationships over the very long-term lead to superior results. Against the four pillars of strategy, culture, financial strength, and growth, delivering the integrated firm is foundational to durable earnings growth and 20% returns through the cycle. Thank you. Now Sharon, will review our fourth quarter and annual results, then together we will take your questions. Sharon Yeshaya: Thank you, and good morning. The firm produced revenues of $61.8 billion in 2024 and ended the year with fourth quarter revenues of $16.2 billion. For the full year, ROTCE was 18.8%, and EPS was $7.95. For the fourth quarter, ROTCE was 20.2%, and EPS was $2.22. The full year efficiency ratio was 71.1%. Improved efficiency not only demonstrates our ability to grow revenues, but also to prioritize our controllable spend. Occupancy and equipment costs held flat, benefiting from the prior year's consolidation of our real estate footprint. During 2024, we took real estate charges of $62 million, which impacted full year EPS by $0.03. Professional services decline”