The US firm's chief executive has spoken of his ambition to do more business with ultra-high net worth individuals in Asia.

Morgan Stanley is looking at doing more with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in the Japanese wealth management arena, targeting Asia as an important growth channel, its chief executive is quoted by the Financial Times as saying.

“We could always do something with our partners in Japan,” James Gorman is reported to have said, pointing to its wealth management joint venture with MUFJ as something that isn’t doing as much as it should be.

“The real opportunity is core Asia,” Gorman said, speaking at a conference in New York. “Clients in the ultra-high net worth space are effectively what I call walking institutions. They operate like family offices, endowments…That business is growing nicely. That’s where I’d like to invest - Hong Kong, Singapore - go hard at it.”

A number of major Western wealth management firms are partnering with Asia-based firms to tap into the region’s market: UBS earlier this week launched a “comprehensive strategic wealth partnership in Japan” with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, a move suggesting that the Asian country’s market is becoming less closed off to foreign players. Firms such as Julius Baer and others have been targeting Thailand, to take another example. 

Morgan Stanley recently brought out a major report on remuneration and compensation trends in the US family offices space.