(Bloomberg) — Morgan Stanley chopped pricing in half for clients trading private companies’ shares on its newly acquired EquityZen platform, undercutting competitors as it looks to expand in a growing market. 

The bank lowered fees for both buyers and sellers to 2.5% from 5% for most transactions, according to a statement Thursday.

That may just be the start. Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley’s head of wealth management, said in an interview that his firm will “go as low as we need to go to make sure clients get the best possible price in the marketplace.”

Morgan Stanley last month completed its purchase of EquityZen, which lets clients trade shares in private companies. The bank struck the deal to buy the platform last year, marking its first acquisition under Chief Executive Officer Ted Pick. 

“The way private markets grew up was quite risky,” Finn said. “Our overall view is, if we can bring sunlight into the entire marketplace, it’s ultimately better for our investor clients.” 

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Companies have increasingly opted to stay private for longer, and the largest ones have swelled to valuations that rival even the largest public firms. That’s created a dynamic where investors are clamoring for access to the likes of OpenAI and SpaceX, while their employees are also seeking to monetize their shares.

Banks have sought to put themselves in the middle to seize on a market that’s continuing to grow. Within a matter of weeks last year, Morgan Stanley announced its EquityZen acquisition, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to buy Industry Ventures and Charles Schwab Corp. struck a deal to purchase Forge Global Holdings Inc. 

Schwab’s Forge deal is expected to be completed in the first half of this year. Forge typically charges buyers and sellers on its platform a 5% fee, according to its website.

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“We’re still in the early days of the real opportunity of private markets,” said Atish Davda, the head of EquityZen who joined Morgan Stanley when the acquisition closed. “The vast majority of even wealthy clients don’t have an allocation in private markets yet, let alone the everyday retail investor.”

While the market for secondary shares of private firms has skyrocketed, it’s stayed relatively opaque compared to trading stock in public companies. Platforms have cropped up that allow investors in private firms to sell their shares to outsiders — to the dismay of the firms themselves, which try to guard their ability to control the ranks of their shareholders. 

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“If you think about any good out there that is sold kind of in the shadows, there’s risks,” Mike Gaviser, head of private markets for Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management unit, said in an interview. “There’s risks to the Wild West.”

EquityZen, by contrast, has long touted the transactions on its platform as “company-approved” — and Morgan Stanley plans to continue using that as a selling point to clients on both the wealth and corporate sides.

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