Goldman's Lin goes to Morgan Stanley

In probably the biggest hire of the Summer so far, Morgan Stanley has poached top Goldman Sachs banker, Susan Lin.

Lin was a managing director at Goldman, and ran its private banking division - a unit which had grown its headcount by a third in recent times. She was highly regarded within the firm and one can only imagine she was not a cheap hire for Morgan Stanley given how much Goldman stock she held from the firm's IPO.

She will transfer back to her native Taiwan, where she will run Morgan Stanley's operations, including investment banking. Morgan Stanley have lagged Goldman in Taiwan and the hire of this big gun is its strongest effort yet to reverse that situation.

The most interesting thing of all is that Morgan is repeating Goldman's own strategy. Part of Goldman's success can be attributed to its moving top private banker, David Chang into the role of head of investment banking several years ago. As a private banker with Goldman in Taiwan, Chang and Lin both mixed with the cream of the corporate world and built strong relationships that could be leveraged into investment banking mandates.

It is an approach that has certainly worked for Goldman. Morgan Stanley will hope that Lin can do the same when she starts at the end of the Summer.

Meanwhile, in a sororal-twist Susan Lin's sister, Shirley remains at Goldman, where she works in the private equity division.