Walid Chammah, Chairman of Morgan Stanley International, is retiring, according to an internal memorandum circulated on Tuesday to employees.  The move was not unexected, according to Morgan Stanley CEO and Chairman James Gorman, who wrote:

“He will become a senior adviser and spend the next several months focused on key clients and working on a seamless transition of those relationships, and will step down from the operating and management committees.”

Mr. Chammah, 57, who has worked on Wall Street for 33 years - 19 of them at Morgan Stanley - was described by Mr. Gorman as a “pioneer of the asset-backed securities industry and was involved in many innovations in that field since it first started in the mid-1980’s.” While at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Chammah held a number of senior positions, including running global capital markets and investment banking.  He has been a co-president of Morgan Stanley and, most recently, chairman of Morgan Stanley International.  In addition to Mr. Chammah, another executive who recently announced plans to leave Morgan Stanley is former CEO John Mack. To read a copy of Mr. Gorman’s memo, go to:   [DealBook, 1/17/12].