<p>Investment banking giant Morgan Stanley is buying discount broker E*Trade Financial Corporation for $13 billion.</p> <p>The all-stock deal is set to be announced today, according to a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/morgan-stanley-is-buying-e-trade-betting-on-littler-customers-11582201440">report</a> from The Wall Street Journal. The takeover is said to be the biggest by a giant U.S. bank since the 2008 crisis.</p> <p>“We’ll take on Schwab. We’ll take on Fidelity,” James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley, told the Journal. “This isn’t about legacy-building; it’s about getting [Morgan Stanley] ready for prime time.”</p> <p>The Morgan Stanley stock is <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MS/">down</a> by over 4% in the pre-market hours. It remains to be seen how the stock reacts when the market opens.</p> <p>In November, brokerage giant Charles Schwab <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/48328/brokerage-giant-charles-schwab-set-to-acquire-crypto-friendly-rival-td-ameritrade-for-26b">agreed</a> to acquire rival TD Ameritrade in an all-stock transaction valued at $26 billion.</p> <p>Notably, E*Trade is also a crypto-friendly brokerage like TD Ameritrade. E*Trade was said to be <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/21128/etrade-is-looking-to-unleash-crypto-into-its-5m-retail-clientele">preparing</a> to offer trading in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), but there has been no official announcement in that regard yet.</p>