Mutual fund industry insiders who follow the happenings in the wirehouse world are digesting big news this morning.

Greg Fleming takes over as president of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, succeeding Charlie Johnston, who is retiring at yearend. Johnston, 57, will serve as MSSB's vice chair until his retirement.

With the integration of MSSB "on track and the return of the retail investor driving increased client activity—Charlie believes it is the right time to make this change," the Wall Street Journal quoted Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman as stating in a memo.

MSSB counts 18,100 FAs.

Bloomberg, Reuters and The New York Times' Deal Book are among the media outlets that picked up on the news.  

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