Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has hired Kate Richdale - a 13-year veteran of Morgan Stanley - to head its investment banking services for Asia.

Ms Richdale, the most senior banker in the region, will be responsible for Goldman Sachs' investment banking services in all Asian market's, excluding Japan.

She will join Goldman Sachs as a Partner, and responsible for boosting relationships with clients in Asian countries. Partner is a very coveted title at Goldman Sachs, thanks to the prestige and high level of compensation associated with it.

An internal memo also revealed that she will report directly to Dan Dees and Matthew Westerman - co-heads of investment banking for Asia at Goldman Sachs.

She will assume her new role in June this year and will continue to be based in Hong Kong.

She remained the head of Morgan Stanley's investment banking for South East Asia from 2003 to 2006, and ascended to the position of chief executive officer for the region in the year 2007.

Goldman Sachs will benefit from Ms Richdale's rich experience in South East Asia, where the American investment bank has redeployed resources recently to boost its business.

In the past one-year period, Morgan Stanley Asia lost two veterans. The first veteran to leave Morgan Stanley was Will McLane, the chief of the financial institutions group for the Asia-Pacific region. McLane had been poached by Citi in July.