UBS AG said on Tuesday it hired a Morgan Stanley investment banker to head its insurance practice in North America, months after it lost two senior insurance bankers to Greenhill & Co.

Michael Ostow will join UBS as a managing director and report to Gary Howe and Halle Benett, Americas co-heads of the financial institutions group.

Ostow, 41, was co-head of the North American insurance group within Morgan Stanley's FIG practice.

The insurance sector is currently undergoing enormous change, and we are seeing a significant pipeline of insurance-related transactions, Benett said.

In April, boutique investment bank Greenhill said it hired three bankers from UBS, including Alejandro Przygoda, who was head of UBS's global insurance practice, and Steven Friedman, who was co-head of its insurance practice for North America.

Two years after the start of the financial crisis, financial institutions continue to face unprecedented challenges, which have led to a high volume of transactions, from capital raising to restructuring to M&A, Howe said.

Investment Morgan Stanley