Good morning from the Financial Times.
Today is Monday, March 17th and this is your FT news briefing.
Banks are racing to manage the wealth of India's new millionaires.
And Saudi Arabia might be done writing blank checks to consulting firms.
Plus we take a look at a weird quirk that's upending the global gold trade.
I'm Kasia Bresalian and here's the news you need to start your day.
HSBC and UBS are expanding their wealth management operations in India.
The country is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and has been minting a lot of millionaires lately thanks to a record year in new listings.
And where there's wealth, there are wealth managers.
For Switzerland based UBS, expanding in India means trying to acquire shares in 361.
That's one of India's largest wealth management companies.
As for hsbc, it's promised to nearly double the number of branches it runs in the country.
The global banks will have some tough competition though.
Local wealth managers have also been getting in on the action.
With clientele lists growing year after year,
a consulting boom in Saudi Arabia is starting to peter out.
Western firms were raking in cash from advising the Kingdom on projects to diversify its economy.
But now Riyadh is having second thoughts and it doesn't have as much money to throw around.
The FT's Chloe Cornish is here to explain.
Hey Chloe.