Morgan Stanley’s top female executive in Asia, Wei Sun Christianson, will retire from the bank at the end of this year after working at the Wall Street firm for nearly two decades.

Christianson, 65 years old, is one of the most influential Asian women in global finance and was instrumental in helping the New York-based bank break into the China market. She has been Morgan Stanley’s China CEO since 2006 and its Asia Pacific Co-Chief Executive since 2011.