India's Ambit hires ABN banker for wealth business

MUMBAI, June 11 (Reuters) - Indian financial services firm Ambit Holdings said on Thursday it had hired Sutapa Banerjee from ABN AMRO to head its new wealth management business.

Banerjee had led the private banking and consumer banking business for ABN in India and managed $1.25 billion in the private banking business, Ambit said in a statement.

Ambit wealth management business joins domestic players such as Kotak Mahindra Bank (KTKM.BO) and JM Financial (JMSH.BO) and will compete with Citigroup (C.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX).

The number of millionaires in India rose 22.7 percent to 123,000 in 2007, according to a Merrill Lunch/Capgemini report, the fastest pace of growth in the world. (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)