Bank of Baroda board to meet on 29 September to consider merger proposal

New Delhi: The board of Bank of Baroda will meet on 29 September to consider the government’s proposal to merge Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank with itself, its Managing Director P S Jayakumar said Tuesday. Earlier this month, the government announced plans to merge Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank to create the country’s third-largest lender as part of efforts to revive credit and economic growth. The meeting of Board of Directors is scheduled for 29 September to approve the merger process, Jayakumar told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of top officials of state-owned banks called by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here. “As of now, at the point of the merger we are well-capitalised to continue the momentum,” he said in reply to a question. [caption id=“attachment_4852811” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The merger process, he added would take 4-6 month and 1 April 2019 could be the possible timeline for completion of the process. The Board of Dena Bank has already given its approval to the merger proposal. Sources said the Board of Vijaya Bank too would be meeting soon to take up the proposal. Jayakumar further said post-merger of the three banks, there will be one entity but multiple brands can remain. Though there may be re-location of some branches post amalgamation. All the three brands have got their own strengths, he added. Last year, State Bank of India had merged with itself five of its subsidiary banks and took over Bharatiya Mahila Bank, following a similar decision by the government. The government owns majority stakes in 21 lenders, which account for more than two-thirds of banking assets in Asia’s third-biggest economy.