Vijaya, Dena Bank merge with Bank of Baroda

Tribune News Service

Advertisement

Chandigarh, April 1

As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notification dated March 30, 2019, all branches of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will function as branches of Bank of Baroda from April 1. 

Customers, including depositors of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will be treated as customers of Bank of Baroda (BoB) with effect from said date. 

The consolidated bank will be the second largest public sector bank in the country. It will have a wider geographical reach with more than 9,500 branches, over 13,400 automatic teller machines (ATMs), and 85,000 employees serving 120 million customers and business mix of Rs 15 lakh crore with deposits and advances of Rs 875 lakh crore and Rs 6.25 lakh crore, respectively. 

BoB plans to build upon the strengths of the three banks, their synergies and scale up the operations by deepening relations with a wider customer base. 

“At present, we have 112 ATMs in Chandigarh and after merging, we will have 175 ATMs,” said Sammita Sachdev, regional head, Bank of Baroda. 

The customers of all three banks stand to benefit in the process. Foreign currency funding will now be available to customers of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank. Dena Bank customers will have renewed access to credit facilities immediately. NRI customers of the three banks will now have access to a larger network in India. “The customers of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will have access to Bank of Baroda’s international presence at 101 offices in 21 countries, including the UK, the USA, and Dubai,” said Sachdev. 

“The biggest challenge we are facing at the moment is that of technology integration. The IT integration is expected to be completed over a period of 12 to 18 months when customer accounts of all the three banks will be migrated to single core banking system,” he added.

“Unique programmes of Vijaya Bank, like SRTO funding and plantation financing will be available to customers of the other two banks,” he said. 

The employees of the amalgamated bank will benefit from the diverse opportunities. “Their service conditions will not be impacted,” said ML Rohila, Zonal Manager, Dena Bank.