Standard Chartered hires Law from Morgan Stanley

Standard Chartered has appointed David Law as managing director and regional head of the origination and client coverage team for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), effective September 1.

Law will report to Vis Shankar, a member of the Standard Chartered group management committee and group head of origination and client coverage, who is based in Singapore. Law will continue to be based in Dubai and will become part of the bank's MENA regional management committee.

The MENA region is core to Standard Chartered's footprint and wholesale banking strategy, said the London-headquartered bank in a written statement. Standard Chartered has had clients in the United Arab Emirates for more than 50 years and has had a presence in Qatar, Bahrain and Jordan since 1920. Earlier this year, Standard Chartered announced income growth of more than 71% from its wholesale banking business in the MENA region and said its operating profits grew by more than 100%.

Law jumps ship from Morgan Stanley where he was chairman of investment banking for MENA, a position he had occupied since February 2008. Law was moved from London to Dubai to take up the newly created role and Morgan Stanley said at the time that his appointment was "part of its strategic commitment to build a presence in institutional securities in the MENA region".

In April 2008 Morgan Stanley appointed three senior leveraged finance and sponsor coverage bankers to be based in Dubai and report to Law, noting that the move created the largest team of its kind in the MENA region.

Before he moved to Dubai, Law was head of the financial sponsors group at Morgan Stanley, with responsibility for the world excluding the US. He also has experience in M&A, leveraged finance and equity capital markets and has worked in both Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Law joined Morgan Stanley in 2001 from Goldman Sachs. Pre-Goldman he spent seven years at Warburg Dillon Read.