Banking insider Joerg Kukies switches from government to Wall Street

Joerg Kukies is leaving public service to return to private banking. After years in Berlin’s finance circles, the well-known German economist will join Morgan Stanley in May. He’ll start in London before settling in Frankfurt, where he’ll lead the bank’s German and Austrian operations plus oversee all continental European activities.His new job mirrors his past role at Goldman Sachs, where he co-led the German branch. That private-sector experience made him a natural pick when Olaf Scholz’s government needed a deputy finance minister in 2018. Later, he became a key advisor to Scholz and briefly ran the finance ministry himself. Now he’s stepping back into a suit and tie rather than a minister’s briefcase. Morgan Stanley isn’t alone in expanding in Germany. Over the last few years, big American banks have nibbled away at market share once dominated by local lenders. Kukies’s move adds another high-profile name to their growing list.