Morgan Stanley has named Kamal Jabre - a twenty-year veteran of the Wall Street banking giant - as chairman and chief executive for the Middle East and North Africa region.

Jabre is one of the bank’s most senior M&A bankers and has advised on various large transactions for its most important clients across North America, Europe and MENA. He has also been integral to the MENA leadership team since 2006, Morgan Stanley said in a statement.

“This appointment underlines Morgan Stanley’s long-term commitment to the MENA region.  With his depth of experience, long tenure at the firm and client relationships, Kamal will bring strong leadership to our businesses in the region as we seek to continue to strengthen our successful franchise in the Middle East and North Africa,” said Colm Kelleher, co-president of institutional securities and head of EMEA and Asia-Pacific at Morgan Stanley.

Jabre succeeds Habib Achkar, who is returning to Europe  to become chairman of the bank’s senior relationship management group – a role in which he is charged with expanding the sales and trading relationship coverage of some of the firm’s biggest clients in Europe and the Middle East.

The wealth management arm of Morgan Stanley saw pre-tax income rise to $362 million in the three months to 30 September this year from $281 million a year ago, boosting results for the entire bank.

The Global Wealth Management Group delivered net revenues of $3.3 billion. Total client assets were $1.6 trillion at the end of the quarter.

For the banking group as a whole, Morgan Stanley reported income of $2.2 billion for the third quarter, compared with income of $314 million for the same period a year ago. Net revenues were $9.9 billion for the third quarter, compared with $6.8 billion a year ago.