Morgan Stanley Asia-Pacific research ranked first for the largest clients with assets under management of $10bn or greater, and second for clients with assets under management of $2.5bn to $9.99bn. For Asia-based voters, Morgan Stanley ranked second; for hedge funds, the Firm earned the top spot. Regarding Morgan Stanley "Asia100" clients, Research ranked first.

"This external recognition is an excellent result for the Firm and underscores the talent and high-quality research franchise that Morgan Stanley has, as well as the impact of the Firm's global equity distribution in Asia Pacific," said Marcus Walsh, Head of Asia Pacific Research, and Vincent Chui, Head of Asia Pacific Equity Distribution.

The Firm ranked fourth on Institutional Investor's Leaderboard, which more than tripled the number of ranked positions from the prior year, with Firm analysts named in 24 out of 35 total positions across industries and countries.

The confidential poll surveyed more than 2,200 buy-side analysts and investment professionals at over 750 institutions managing an estimated $1.5tn in non-Japanese Asian Equities.

Rankings are based on the total number of top-ranked team positions (first, second, third, and runners-up). Each vote is weighted by AUM of the client; the greater the AUM, - the greater the weight of that vote.