Morgan Stanley has suffered its fifth senior departure in two weeks as Vikram Gandhi, co-head of the financial institutions group, quit the troubled bank to join rival Credit Suisse First Boston.

His departure comes as the chairman of a $70bn (€54.6bn) New Jersey public employee pension system, Orin Kramer, joined the criticism of Morgan Stanley chief executive Philip Purcell, and said he planned talks with other public funds about the issue.