Morgan Stanley, a market leader in derivatives trading and clearing, announced today that it has cleared OTC interest rate swap transactions for clients of the firm at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).  Trades were cleared on the first day of operation of the CME Clearing service for interest rate swaps.  This follows the previously announced clearing of client OTC Credit Default Swap (CDS) transactions at CME's CDS clearing service.

"Morgan Stanley has been a pioneer in the OTC Clearing space over the last 10 years initially in the dealer-to-dealer market and now in the dealer to client space.  We strongly support the drive toward more central clearing of OTC derivatives as a means to reduce systemic risk and allowing our clients to mitigate their counterparty risk in the OTC derivatives markets" said Stephen O'Connor, Managing Director.

Morgan Stanley will provide clearing services for its clients at LCH.Clearnet's SwapClear service and ICE Trust's CDS clearing service in addition to the CME.  Connectivity to further clearing houses will be added in the future according to client demand.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services.  The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,300 offices in 42 countries.  For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

Morgan Stanley Media Relations: Marie Claire Delaney, 212.761.2427