Morgan Stanley’s Asian private wealth management assets have grown about 35 per cent in the last year due to strong growth in China, Indones...

Morgan Stanley’s Asian private wealth management assets have grown about 35 per cent in the last year due to strong growth in China, Indonesia and India, according to Reuters. Morgan Stanley also plans to almost double its headcount in Asia over the next three years as it expects the business to grow at a double-digit pace. "This year we have had close to 35 per cent growth in assets and these are new assets coming in through the door, not from market appreciation," Leslie Menkes, the Singapore-based head of private wealth management for Morgan Stanley in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and India, told Reuters. Analysts estimate that Morgan Stanley's wealth management business has around $20 billion in client assets in the Asia Pacific region. The US bank plans to increase wealth management staff to 300 over the next three years, from the current 170, according to the report. Morgan Stanley hired Nick Chan from Goldman Sachs to head its Indonesian business, report Reuters. He brought an Indonesian coverage team from Goldman including Veronica Pang, Cecila Tay and Jacqueline Zhuang.