Morgan Stanley spends $770,000 in 2nd quarter on lobbying about financial regulatory reform

Morgan Stanley spends $770,000 lobbying in 2nd qtr

NEW YORK — Morgan Stanley spent $770,000 in the second quarter lobbying the federal government on financial regulatory reform and other issues, according to a disclosure report.

That’s down 7 percent from the $830,000 the investment bank spent in the year-ago quarter. For the first six months of the year, Morgan Stanley spent $1.51 million on lobbying as Wall Street regulations came to the forefront of the national agenda.

Its lobbying expenditures for the first half of the year were sixth among the top 10 banks that received money under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Morgan Stanley received $10 billion in loans under the program, which it paid back in June 2009.

New York-based Morgan Stanley discussed proposed regulations regarding broker dealers and investment advisers, derivatives, commodity markets, hedge funds, financial market systemic risk and pension reform with lawmakers and regulators.

The bank also raised issues regarding taxes, energy legislation, market access to China, the U.S. relationship with India, and accounting matters regarding the European Union.

The bank lobbied Congress, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Treasury, Labor and Commerce departments during the April-to-June period, according to the report filed on July 20 with the House clerk’s office.