Morgan Stanley was 2008's most efficient trader among the banks, according to a recent review conducted by Financial News. The results ran in the March 16 issue.

To determine trading efficiency, FN editors divided a bank's sales and trading revenues by its average trading Value at Risk, as disclosed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to those finding, "Morgan Stanley had sales and trading revenues of $10.7bn and an average trading VaR of $98m, meaning it generated $109 in revenue for each dollar of risk," the FN reported. "In 2007, the bank had a trading efficiency of 93 with both lower sales and trading revenues and lower risk."

The FN article also noted that, in addition to ranking as the most efficient trader, Morgan Stanley was one of only two investment banks that had positive pre-tax operating profits last year, according to The Boston Consulting Group.

"The consultancy said in a report that the 13 leading investment banks recorded a pre-tax loss of $154.2bn last year, 12 times the losses suffered in 2007 due to $200bn of writedowns," the FN noted. "However, Morgan Stanley made a pre-tax operating profit of $3.8bn."