Bank of Baroda to share its merger experience with 10 public sector banks

The brass of 10 public sector banks (PSBs) will meet in Mumbai on Wednesday to gain insights from Bank of Baroda (BoB) in managing its merger with Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank. The four anchor banks and six merging entities will also discuss initial merger plans.

A senior executive of a South India-based PSB said, “We are meeting in the financial capital to understand from BoB how it went about the integration process for Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank.”

While the market is looking at near-term implications of the merger like the pace of lending activity, banks are more concerned with long-term issues. They include synergies for branch and ATM network, human resource (HR) and cultural integration as well as integration of information technology (IT) systems of the banks concerned. The meeting at the BoB headquarters will be a day-long affair where the bank will make a presentation on its experience in coordinating the merger, HR and cultural challenges faced and how the IT backbone is stabilising, the PSB executive said. In April, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank were merged with BoB.

Last Friday, the Centre unveiled a mega plan to merge 10 PSBs into four. Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India will combine to form the nation’s second-largest lender; Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank will merge; Union Bank of India will amalgamate with Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank; and Indian Bank will merge with Allahabad Bank.

State Bank of India is also expected to share takeaways from merging its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with itself, an exercise done in 2017.

The associate banks were State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Hyderabad, and State Bank of Patiala.

Bank Of Baroda