Morgan Stanley hires ex BofA banker Rizzo to drive European client push

Morgan Stanley hired former Bank of America banker Luigi Rizzo for a new client-facing role overseeing a drive to win business from a wide spectrum of companies across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Rizzo was at the helm of Bank of America’s European corporate and investment banking. He quit over there in late 2019, and now is going to become Morgan Stanley’s vice chairman of investment banking for EMEA. The news was reported anonymously and also Morgan Stanley was not immediately available for comment.

Rizzo, a seasoned dealmaker started his career at Goldman Sachs in 1993. He rose through the ranks and became a partner in 2008. Then he worked closely with some of Europe’s most prominent dealmakers such as Diego De Giorgi, now co-CEO at Pegasus Europe. Later in 2013 he joined Bank of America, to take on top jobs in both M&A and investment banking for the EMEA region. By moving to Paris after the Brexit referendum, he oversaw the bank’s rollout across the EU.

In this new role of him, he will advise clients, which includes consumer and retail companies, financial institutions and TMT (telecoms, media and technology) conglomerates in their efforts to pursue strategic combinations. This can speed up their post-COVID recovery. The 50-year old Italian, is also a lecturer at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. He also graduated over there only. He will report to Morgan Stanley’s head of investment banking Simon Smith.

Morgan Stanley is now ranked second after Goldman Sachs in Refinitiv’s global M&A league table. He got appointed after Morgan aims to take advantage of a rebounding M&A market, with an overall $2.4 trillion worth of M&A deals announced globally during the first five months of 2021. In May alone global deal making volumes hit a monthly record of $532.9 billion.