Morgan Stanley deflected a blow to a unit that advises banks by promoting Kevin Ryan, one of the group’s leaders, after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. tried to recruit him. Ryan, who previously ran a team that advised lenders on capital structure and regulatory issues, will co-lead a new unit that also will underwrite stock and debt for banks. He’ll run the group in the Americas with Taylor Wright, while Shyam Parekh heads it in Europe. Morgan Stanley is the second-ranked equity underwriter and sixth-ranked debt underwriter so far this year, according to Bloomberg data. Ryan previously ran the FIG Solutions team, with FIG standing for financial institutions group. He worked under Wylie Collins, who heads the client-solutions business in the Americas. Claus Skrumsager and Leo Civitillo also will take on additional responsibilities as global co-heads of debt derivatives, according to the memo. Skrumsager, based in London, was hired by Morgan Stanley from HSBC Holdings in 2007. Civitillo joined the firm in 2004 from JPMorgan. The moves “will enhance our ability to consistently create and execute integrated solutions that are so important to our FIG clients globally, particularly as they navigate current market volatility and increased regulatory pressures,” Dhanda wrote in the memo. Current managers will handle this year’s compensation decisions and the reporting lines will be set in 2012, with the group still accountable to heads of equity and debt capital markets and leveraged finance, Dhanda said. The unit’s headcount isn’t set, and the firm doesn’t plan to create similar groups for other industries, he said. The bidding for talent comes as banks are cutting compensation costs amid a decline in trading and investment- banking revenue. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley’s investment bank each cut third-quarter pay expenses by more than 30 percent from the second quarter. [Bloomberg, 10/25/11]