THE giant American bank Morgan Stanley is still hiring people in Singapore and keeping investment funds flowing to its clients.

Its statement of confidence on Tuesday comes in the teeth of a worsening global financial crisis and just weeks after it turned itself from an investment bank into a commercial one taking deposits.

The move was in response to the new risks in the financial sector but its units here remain bullish.

New staff - and new customers - are being taken on for its investment banking and private wealth management divisions, among the firm's largest units in terms of staff strength here.

Headcount across Southeast Asia is expected to grow by five to 10 per cent in the next three to five years, said the bank's chief executive for South-east Asia, Mr Ronald Ong, on Tuesday.

'When it comes to Asia, we continue to win business. There is strong momentum in Asia as well as in Singapore,' he said at a briefing.

It was Mr Ong's first interview since Morgan Stanley sold a 21 per cent equity stake to Japan's largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) for US$9 billion last month.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.