American multinational investment banking and financial services major Morgan Stanley plans to tie up with start-ups in India to help navigate the company’s technology roadmap.

It has shortlisted 16 start-ups, out of which one will be chosen to partner with the firm. The company manages $1.3 trillion assets for institutions, high net worth individuals and governments.

“For us technology should help the firm make and save money or reduce risk and we look to work with the best talent, whether it is with our teams in Morgan Stanley or with external partners like start-ups.” Bobby Gilja, CIO, Corporate and Funding Technology, Morgan Stanley, told BusinessLine .

Every summer, Morgan Stanley’s technologists hold a meet with cutting-edge firms and industry leaders in Silicon Valley to explore the emerging trends and new products.

These are part of a larger efforts by investment banks, which have been weighed down by regulations post the Lehmann crisis, which have scuttled their innovation efforts. But now investment banks such as Morgan Stanley are upping the ante and Bengaluru, considered as India’s Silicon Valley, seems to be the natural choice.

“There is the talent pool and over the last few years we have talent with the right domain expertise, which is a good mix,” said Chakra Mantena, Managing Director and Head of Technology, Morgan Stanley India.

In line with this, Morgan Stanley has called upon these 16 start-ups to present their ideas. “Given the high degree of complexity in our business, we are continuously innovating and collaborating with partners, vendors and start-ups to drive product innovation. Through the summit, we engage with start-ups, look for innovative solutions outside that we can leverage inside.” said Gilja.

Morgan Stanley is looking at start-ups working in AI, Machine Learning, automation, fintech, data analytics as some of the areas. Since the inception of the summit 17 years ago, Morgan Stanley had an interaction with more than 800 start-ups, many of which have become part of the firm’s tech ecosystem.

It had tied up with with data aggregation start-up Addepar to automate the administrative tasks, which will allow its wealth managers to dedicate more time to clients. This start-up is backed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, with assets worth around $560 billion on its platform.

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