Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank send merger proposal for govt nod

Mumbai: After getting approvals from their respective boards, state-run Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank have sent the proposal to merge all the three lenders to the government for a final approval, a top bank official said.

The government had announced the merger of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank on September 17, to create the country's third largest lender. "The boards of all the three banks have approved (the merger proposal) and sent the recommendations to the government. We are in early stages of rolling this out.

"The next step would be the government approving formally the merger process, and then the swap ratio," Bank of Baroda managing director and chief executive officer PS Jayakumar told reporters here. He said the merger will take four to six months to complete. Late last month, the boards of all the three lenders had given in-principle approvals for the proposed merger.

The envisaged amalgamation will be the first-ever three-way consolidation of banks in the country, with a combined business of Rs 14.82 lakh crore, making it the third largest bank after State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank. The merger of the three banks would be through share swap, which will be the part of the scheme of merger.

In April 2017, SBI had merged with itself five of its subsidiary banks and taking over Bharatiya Mahila Bank, catapulting it to be among top 50 global lenders with over USD 550 billion in combined assets. After the merger of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank, the number of state-run banks will come down to 19.

When asked whether he will continue to head Bank of Baroda after his term ends this week, Jayakumar said he was open but "it is for the government to take the decision". Jayakumar was one of the two chiefs of public sector banks selected from the private sector and had joined the state-owned bank in October 2015. He was appointed for a three-year term, which will come to an end on October 12.