Bloomberg News

Published: April 24, 2007

NEW YORK: Morgan Stanley, one the world's largest securities firms, said Tuesday that it had set up a $46 million claims pool to settle a sex-discrimination lawsuit and said it would enact new policies to help women succeed as financial advisers. 

The settlement, which must be approved by the U.S. District Court in Washington, would change training and management-development programs in Morgan Stanley's wealth-management division, the company, based in New York, said. 

Six women who are former Morgan Stanley financial advisers filed the complaint last year, claiming the company had discriminated against them and more than 3,000 other current and former advisers since August 2003. Morgan Stanley paid women less than men and gave them fewer promotion opportunities, the women claimed.

"We are firmly committed to the initiatives we will be undertaking to attract and retain women financial advisors and help them be as successful as possible," Caroline Gundeck, head of the wealth-management unit's office of diversity, said. …

The latest settlement is one of the largest in a U.S. gender-bias class-action case.