Morgan Stanley intern nabs senior Southeast Asia role in 7 years

Morgan Stanley is promoting a pair of dealmakers in Southeast Asia, with one banker rising from intern to a senior position in just seven years.

The U.S. firm has appointed Jannie Tsuei, who started as an intern in New York in 2011, as chief operating officer for Southeast Asia investment banking, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. It named Jonathan Pflug, who joined Morgan Stanley as an associate that year, to head Southeast Asia M&A and Singapore coverage.

Tsuei began her finance career on Morgan Stanley’s real estate investment banking team in the U.S. before moving to Singapore in 2015, the memo shows. Earlier this year, she transitioned to Singapore coverage and has been helping build out the firm’s work on health-care deals in the region. A representative for Morgan Stanley confirmed the contents of the memo.

“Gone are those days where you have to spend fifteen to twenty years before you get a shot at the top,” Tsewang Bhotia, a Hong Kong-based director at recruitment firm Executive Access Ltd., said by phone yesterday. “These days, the turnover is a lot faster and in the last five years, they are getting younger.”

The promotions follow the departure of Gordon Parker, who was head of Southeast Asia M&A at Morgan Stanley before moving to San Francisco-based boutique DBO Partners. Citigroup Inc. poached Kelvin Goh, who was Morgan Stanley’s head of Singapore coverage and chief operating officer for Southeast Asia investment banking.

Morgan Stanley ranked fourth on mergers and acquisitions involving companies in Southeast Asia this year, down from first place for all of 2017, according to data compiled. Bloomberg.