Morgan Stanley Shakes Up Hedge Fund Unit

Morgan Stanley (MS Quote) hired a new executive to oversee its prime brokerage division, which serves hedge fund clients.

Alex Ehrlich, who ran prime brokerage for UBS (UBS Quote), took over the unit that had been run by Stuart Hendel, who is leaving Morgan Stanley, according to a Bloomberg report that cited an internal company memo. A Morgan Stanley spokesman did not immediately respond to an email message.

While less profitable than it was before the crisis, prime brokerage remains critical to investment banking franchises of banks like Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote), Credit Suisse (CS Quote) and Deutsche Bank (DB Quote). ...