Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.'s new president, Robert Scott, said the company wants to build its overseas retail business and could do so by joint venture or acquisition.
Mr. Scott was named president of the company this month after a management shake-up that included the resignation of president John Mack. He made the comments Wednesday during a presentation at Credit Suisse First Boston's financial services conference in Phoenix.
Morgan Stanley has been expanding its overseas institutional business but still has "a lot of work to do" to build its retail network outside the United States, Mr. Scott said.
In a separate Wednesday presentation at the three-day conference, Jerry Grundhofer, chief executive officer at Firstar Corp. of Milwaukee, said his company's integration with Minneapolis' U.S. Bancorp should come off without a hitch after the close of the purchase, which is slated to happen in late February.
"I am so bullish on this deal," Mr. Grundhofer said. "We believe we bring great execution skills to the combined company."
He said it figures to be a low-risk integration and that when it is done there will be less bureaucracy and more efficiency.
Shareholders of U.S. Bancorp and Firstar green-lighted the merger in a vote Tuesday, a day after the Federal Reserve Board gave its approval.
