RJ and Makay

A new Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) policy allowing its brokers to use BlackBerries for texting could give the brokerage a leg up on main competitors. The policy, announced in late January, was the result of popular demand by field reps. It makes MSSB the only big brokerage to allow text messaging, giving its reps a line of communication not open to rival brokers.

The new policy applies to the roughly 2,000 MSSB advisors and managers who have company-provided BlackBerries. Using the same process it has in place to review staff emails, MSSB says it will keep records of texts to comply with industry requirements to retain all electronic messages for three years.