Morgan Stanley is having a great year after topping the GlobalData deals activity league table for the second quarter of 2018. Morgan Stanley leads the top twenty table of financial advisors, having worked on 86 deals valued at a total of almost US$465 billion in Q2 of 2018, a more than fourfold increase in dollar value from the comparable period in 2017. The overall global deals value grew by 78 per cent to US$9749 billion in Q2 2018, while volume rose by 3.9 per cent, to 9,019 during the two quarters in review. A report from the Adam Smith institute in the UK warns that a crisis is brewing in the country's equity release mortgage market, reports the FT. The think-tank says regulators have not taken a tough enough line with the companies, which are running "huge financial risks". It says lenders are making inadequate provision for the risk that the value of homes will be lower than the value of the equity release loans when the borrowers die. "This under-valuation problem is a ticking time bomb that could do serious damage to the financial health of the equity release sector," the report says. A consultation paper released last month has suggested new rules for the sector, but insurers are objecting.