NEW YORK Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman told shareholders Friday that the company will likely appoint its next CEO in the next 12 months.

Gorman, 64, said the board has identified three strong candidates to succeed him and that he will become executive chairman once a new CEO is chosen.

COMMENTS:

STUART COLE, HEAD MACRO ECONOMIST, EQUITI CAPITAL, LONDON:

"Gorman has been at MS for a long time now, and was very much behind the purchase by MS of E*Trade Financial Corp and Eaton Vance Corp, both of which have been very successful for MS. Under his leadership MS stock has been one of the best performing financials, so I expect investors will be disappointed he is leaving and will see him as a hard act to follow."

JOHN GUARNERA, SENIOR CORPORATE ANALYST AT RBC BLUERAY ASSET MANAGEMENT:

"James Gorman has taken a lot of effort to bolster the leadership ranks and to train and promote potential successors there. He's been pretty clear in terms of establishing a bench that would be there to be able to support him when and if he chose to leave. So, I don't anticipate any major change in strategic direction, and I would think that the transition would be relatively orderly.

(Reporting Ankika Biswas and Jaiveer Shekhawat)