Morgan Stanley to let India banking licence lapse

The headquarters of Morgan Stanley is pictured in New York June 1, 2012.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley intends to allow its banking licence in India to lapse as part of its changed business strategy, the Economic Times newspaper reported on Saturday.

However, the Wall Street bank will continue to run its investment banking business and stay registered as a non-banking finance company with the central Reserve Bank of India, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed senior banker.

Morgan Stanley declined to comment on the report.

In March 2012, it received the licence to set up a bank in the country.

"It is now planning to let the licence lapse as it does not want to tie up capital and other resources on account of a review of its strategy," a senior banker with knowledge of the development told the newspaper.

The licence would enable Morgan Stanley to expand its offerings to corporate banking and foreign exchange from its current services such as advising clients on takeovers.

Last November, sources have told Reuters that Morgan Stanley had launched the sale of its India private wealth management unit, which manages about $1 billion including loans, after entering the highly fragmented and competitive market just four years earlier.

(Reporting by Indulal PM; editing by Jason Neely)