Morgan Stanley hires Nick Strain to head institutional FX sales

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.