John Mack, chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley, said last night the bank will keep its Discover credit card unit, reversing a decision made by his predecessor, Philip Purcell. It came hours after Carl Icahn, the activist investor, revealed he had bought a stake in the bank.

The bank also said it would sell its aircraft leasing business which has been hurt by a weakened airline industry, and take a write-down charge of about $1bn (€815,000) in the first quarter of next year.