Goldman Sachs has hired Morgan Stanley's Asia investment bankinghead Kate Richdale, the most senior banker in the region toswitch firms so far this year.
Richdale will be head of investment banking services forAsia ex-Japan, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuterson Thursday, putting her in charge of client relationships in aregion where banks are focusing on high-paying clients ratherthan broad coverage lists.
"It's a pretty high profile hire," said Philippe Espinasse,a former investment banker with Nomura and UBS in Hong Kong,adding that Richdale's fluent Mandarin and Southeast Asiaexperience make her a "well-rounded and seasoned" executive.
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Morgan Stanley will replace Richdale with Dieter Turowskiand Shane Zhang as co-heads of investment banking for AsiaPacific, sources with direct knowledge of the matter toldReuters.
Richdale's appointment comes at a time when investment bankslike Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are struggling torecapture the fee levels they earned in Asia in the past, as theregion's high level of economic growth is tempered by adwindling flow of large IPOs and other equity offerings.
Those deals had been the source of Asia's juiciest fees inthe last decade. Banks are working now to focus on fewer clientsthan in the past, targeting those most likely to pay large andrepeat fees.
Richdale's role at Morgan Stanley made her one of theregion's top bankers, and one of the few women in Asia to holdsuch a high ranking. Another top Asia banker is MorganStanley's, Wei Sun Christianson, co-Chief Executive of AsiaPacific.
Richdale's departure from Morgan Stanley is a major hire forGoldman and puts some distance between her and Wei, with whomshe had a longstanding personality clash, according to sourcesat the bank. A Morgan Stanley spokesman declined to comment.
Speculation of Richdale leaving had built up last year, amidre-shuffling at the bank's New York headquarters.
Richdale will report to Goldman's Asia Pacific investmentbanking co-heads, Matthew Westerman and Dan Dees.
Shakeup
The early part of the calendar year is usually when banksbegin to see movement at the top, with year-end bonuses paid outand other factors contributing to job movement.
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This February, Bank of America has hired Credit Suisse'sOlivier Thiriet as head of Asia Pacific equities and the samebank's George Lin as head of consumer, retail and healthcareinvestment banking. It also nabbed Deutsche Bank's RichardYacenda as chief operating officer for the region.
Europe-based Turowski was most recently the global co-headof natural resources, while Zhang is the bank's co-head of Chinainvestment banking.
A 13-year veteran of Morgan Stanley, Richdale will joinGoldman Sachs as a partner, a coveted title at the bank becauseof its prestige and high compensation. She was named as MorganStanley's sole head of investment banking for Asia-Pacific twoyears ago to the day, in a reshuffle that saw her co-head, GokulLaroia, become the boss of the equities division.
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Goldman will hope to benefit from Richdale's experience inSoutheast Asia, a region where the US investment bank hassometimes lagged rivals in the past and where it has redeployedresources recently. It moved Steve Barg from Hong Kong toSingapore in July to become co-head of investment banking forthe sub-region.
From 2003 to 2006 Richdale was head of investment bankingfor Southeast Asia at Morgan Stanley, becoming CEO for theregion in 2007. She is known internally for her good relationswith Singapore's government fund Temasek , a repeatMorgan Stanley client, according to the source at the bank.
Richdale is the third Morgan Stanley Asia veteran to defectto another bank in the last year. Will McLane, the head of thefinancial institutions group for Asia Pacific, went to Citi in July and Jonathan Popper, the firm's top mergers andacquisitions banker in Southeast Asia, went to Temasek thisJanuary.