Morgan Stanley plans to hire more Asia wealth relationship managers

By Minmin Low and Adam Haigh

 

Morgan Stanley’s Asia wealth chief is looking to boost the number of staff dealing with its richest customers as the US lender pushes ahead with its regional expansion. 

 

The firm’s 140 relationship managers in the region could grow to 200 over the next few years, said Vincent Chui, head of wealth management for Asia Pacific. Morgan Stanley’s scale and priority on the super wealthy can help customers diversify away from Asia to other parts of the world, including sectors such as AI and healthcare in the US, he said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Hong Kong. 

 

“We are in a very fortunate position. We focus on the most important ultra-high net worth segment in Asia,” Chui said on Thursday. “For many other players it is challenging in terms of justifying the cost expansion and trying to find the profitability.”

 

Wealth management firms in Asia are looking to double assets under management to almost $260 trillion by 2026 and boost revenue, according to an Accenture report last year. At Morgan Stanley, wealth and asset management has boosted recurring sales and returns and is expected to remain a key driver of profit.

 

“The secular growth of the sector, particularly in the ultra-high net worth segment, is still strong,” he said. 

 

Chui said that while China’s markets might be reaching lows, the US still provides relatively better growth-adjusted returns.

 

“Our view at this point is that China is relatively inexpensive,” he said. “The Chinese market and Chinese policies are coming to the stage where we are bottoming out.”