Morgan Stanley has appointed Chris Randazzo, latterly of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, to head technology for its wealth and investment management business.

The hire was announced to employees on Tuesday in a memo from Gregory Fleming, head of brokerage and asset management.

Randazzo was most recently the head of technology for Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Global Wealth and Investment Management business.

He will take over the Morgan Stanley role in the near future from Moira Kilcoyne, who was recently appointed chief operating officer of wealth management at Morgan Stanley. That role was previously held by Jeff Hack, who will become a senior client advisor focusing on client segmentation projects.

The firm suffered some technology glitches at its brokerage joint venture last year after implementing a new system for brokers, prompting Fleming to tour US cities to reassure staff that the firm was addressing concerns. In the memo, Morgan Stanley said it plans to spend over $500 million, in addition to running costs, over the next 18 months to improve its technology system.

This investment comes at a time when the banking group as a whole is making staff cuts but is protecting client-facing staff at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Morgan Stanley is to reduce headcount at its institutional securities business by 6 per cent, or around 1,600 employees. Around 50 per cent of the job cuts will be made in the US, with the rest falling internationally. They will affect all levels of employees but focus on senior managers.

While no brokers within Morgan Stanley Wealth Management will lose their jobs as a result of the cuts, the unit will be affected to the extent that headcount is reduced among back-office functions across the bank – as some cuts will be made to infrastructure and support roles.