Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong has hired Nick Strain to head Asian institutional sales for foreign exchange and emerging markets. Strain was previously a managing director at Royal Bank of Scotland in Singapore, where he held a similar role.
"Nick's hire is part of our continuing strategy to increase the footprint of our foreign exchange and emerging markets business in this region," said Yuki Hashimoto, head of sales in Asia for FXEM, as the group is known.
"This isn't a one-off hire," added Stephen Glynn, who is the head of FXEM trading in Asia. "We've added 10 additional sales heads in the region during the past 12 months. Nick represents an important hire in a region we see as offering some of the best growth opportunities over the next five to 10 years."
Indeed, the bank is targeting hires across its entire platform, including in prime brokerage, e-commerce, institutional sales, research and trading. "We're committed to further expanding our headcount significantly both globally and in the region this year as part of our effort to become a top-three provider of foreign exchange and emerging markets products over the course of the next three years," said Glynn.
Morgan Stanley's push for growth in this area started in earnest at the end of 2008, when the FXEM business was formed to provide clients with a one-stop shop for foreign exchange and emerging markets rates products.
"It allows us to serve global clients far more efficiently for all of their cross-product needs, both for voice coverage and electronically," said Glynn. "It leverages our existing strengths in trading and research, and allows us to deliver significantly more idea generation and a full suite of services to that client base."
