Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman said the bank has turned itself around and can meet its goals for profitability, his boldest pronouncements yet about the near-term potential for a company that has long lagged its peers.

The investment bank and wealth manager on Friday posted fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ average estimate by a wide margin, helped by a big jump in trading revenue and stronger performance in its wealth management group.

Morgan Stanley’s fixed-income trading business performed worse than its rivals, and its overall return on equity, a measure of how efficiently the bank wrings profit from shareholder money, was less than half that of Goldman Sachs group. But Gorman told investors the bank was “working aggressively” to improve return on equity. – (Reuters)