How amazing and incredible is to be an MD at Morgan Stanley? Ask Nick Bishop, the former head of EMEA retail investment banking at UBS.
As the Financial Times reported earlier this week, Bishop is quitting UBS for Morgan Stanley. Having been head of retail sector coverage at UBS, Bishop is reportedly joining Morgan Stanley as a mere managing director (MD). That sounds a bit like a demotion – unless being a senior retail banker at UBS is abnormally bad, or being an MD at Morgan Stanley is abnormally good.
For the moment we’ll assume the latter. MDs at Morgan Stanley certainly have rarity value. Yesterday was Morgan Stanley’s MD promotion day; 151 employees were promoted. Last year 153 people were. Between 2009 and 2012, Reuters reports that Morgan Stanley regularly promoted 200 people to its MD. Morgan Stanley MDs are clearly on the decline.
Bishop’s motivation for joining Morgan Stanley doesn’t seem to have been the superior strength of the bank’s retail banking franchise. Dealogic reports that Morgan Stanley ranked 18th in the EMEA retail M&A advisor tables last year, with 4.4% market share. This compared to 14th position and an 11.8% market share at UBS.
Of course, there’s also the possibility that Bishop simply wanted to leave UBS after seven years at the bank. There’s also the fact that Andrea Orcel is ‘remodeling’ UBS investment banking business and is said to be ruffling feathers in the process.