Morgan Stanley eyes advisers as global shops line up Australia’s rich
Morgan Stanley’s wealth management arm is searching for more financial advisers to target an ever-growing list of wealthy Australian families.
The investment bank’s local division is fixed on winning over individuals and families with between $1 million and $30 million in investible assets, a space that has become increasingly crowded as global banks from HSBC to UBS all compete for the money of rich Australians.
Morgan Stanley’s wealth management boss, Rebecca Hill, wants experienced advisers, but is also investing in junior talent. AFR
To execute this strategy, the firm wants experienced advisers who bring in about $1.8 million in revenue per year. Morgan Stanley also planned to invest in developing junior employees. “We are focused on hiring advisers that fit with our strategic focus areas,” Rebecca Hill, the head of Morgan Stanley’s Australian wealth management arm, said.
There is a “significant market opportunity with wealthy Australians,” Ms Hill added. Family offices, for example, have grown their assets under management, and wealth managers are lining up to give advice on private credit and philanthropic investments that offer favourable tax credits.
There are approximately 600,000 high-net-worth individuals in Australia with about $2.8 trillion in investible assets, yet 54 per cent of them are without an adviser, data from Investment Trends showed.
Australia’s ultra-high segment – typically families and individuals with more than $30 million in investible assets – is projected to increase to about 27,000 people by 2026, up 31 per cent from 2021, the data revealed.
As millionaires skew younger and families prepare for one of the biggest generational transfers of wealth in the next seven years, financial advisers are turning to alternative investments, and tapping into millennials who want more money allocated to not–for-profits or sustainable investments.
Ms Hill said charitable investments was part of Morgan Stanley’s strategy toward rich clients, particularly for the wealthy family offices.
The bank is also setting up its wealth management group to target the older and younger generations of rich families. An experienced adviser, for example, would focus on the clients’ older family members, while a younger staffer built a relationship with the younger generation to get a better, and more relatable, idea of how they wanted to invest their money in the future.
Chasing slice of the wealthy pie
“We are increasingly seeing the benefits of advisers working in teams. This provides clients with a diversification of skills and experiences and creates deeper, multi-generational relationships within a family,” Ms Hill said.
Morgan Stanley’s hunt for new additions to its 90-odd strong team of advisers comes after it lost close to 20 employees in its wealth management unit to stockbroker and Shaw and Partners, The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column reported this month.
In July, the firm offered to move clients with less than $1 million in assets to stockbroker Ord Minnett, an early sign of Morgan Stanley’s focus on the ultra-wealthy.
With more than $42 billion in assets, Morgan Stanley’s pursuit of Australia’s richest families has it going toe-to-toe with UBS, and wealth managers LGT Crestone and JBWere.
Elsewhere, HSBC relocated private bankers from Singapore to Australia to nab more of the country’s wealthy in October, while Goldman Sachs beefed up its wealth management team in July.
Introducing your Newsfeed
Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.
Find out moreRead More
Latest In Financial services
Fetching latest articles