Morgan Stanley

Almost 10 years after the financial crisis, Wall Street was starting to wonder aloud: Might Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley make a big acquisition? Much of that speculation got a reality check on June 28 when both firms scraped through the Federal Reserve's annual stress tests.

Saburo Araki said he's giving a high priority to what he describes as the difficult task of stamping out staff harassment since he took over in April as head of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's brokerage venture with Morgan Stanley.

Among the six biggest U.S. banks, Bank of America might see one of the steepest jumps in payouts. Wells Fargo is the wild card.

The firms were initially slated to be included in a newly merged trade association, but they were blocked after some executives objected to adding more Wall Street banks.

Banks need to respond swiftly to allegations of sexual harassment and other misdeeds, even those involving their top performers.