Morgan changed US China policy – How pushy can banks get?

A Morgan Stanley economist bragged to his bosses about playing a "key role" in getting the U.S. Treasury to change a key position in its dealings with China, and paved the way for the firm to do more deals in the booming economy, a document obtained by The Post indicates.

An e-mail from Morgan Stanley's veteran chief economist, Stephen Roach, to senior executives in September 2003 boasts of Morgan Stanley's role in getting Treasury Secretary John Snow to back off the Bush administration's vow to pressure China over the value of its currency.

In the e-mail, Roach told Stephan Newhouse and Vikram Pandit, the then bosses of Morgan Stanley's international and institutional securities units, that "I helped him script rather carefully" key lines of a policy announcement in Beijing.

Roach wrote to Newhouse and Pandit that the Chinese might be very appreciative for the help Morgan Stanley provided in changing Secretary Snow's mind.

"I do believe we should make every effort to let the Chinese know that we played a decisive role in shaping the outcome on a key issue of great strategic importance for them," Roach wrote.
Referring to Newhouse's scheduled October 2004 meeting with the Chinese Minister of Finance, Roach noted that Morgan Stanley's help "might be an appropriate point of discussion."

Morgan Stanley, long one of the biggest underwriters in the Chinese market, recently was awarded the right to take over Nan Tung Bank which the firm a much sought after commercial banking license, something no other investment bank has acquired on the Chinese mainland. An accident? Chance opportunity? In a pig's ass!

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10202006/business/morgan_stanley_in_chinese_snow_job_business_roddy_boyd.htm