Saudi billionaires said to be moving assets out

Dubai

SOME Saudi billionaires and millionaires are seeking to move assets from the kingdom and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region as what authorities call a crackdown on corruption intensifies, according to six people with knowledge of the matter.

The country's wealthiest people are in talks with banks, asset managers and advisers to try to shift cash and other liquid holdings from Saudi Arabia and neighbouring states amid concerns that funds could be frozen and more arrests will be made, the people said. They asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

Saudi security forces arrested more than 10 princes as well as dozens of ministers, former officials and businessmen in a surprise weekend purge. The central bank asked lenders in the kingdom to freeze the accounts of dozens of individuals who aren't under arrest, as well as the assets of those being detained, people familiar with the matter said. The Saudi atto…