On the 1st of April, it was a historic act when all of us witnessed the last day of Andhra Bank as one of the oldest and well-known household names in the region gets merged with Union Bank of India.
A part of the Central government plan to create four larger banks by merging 10, the move will see Andhra Bank be identified as the Union Bank of India.
The bank was established by Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya on the 23rd of November in 1923. Its beginnings are modest, with a solitary department, and afterward grew by leaps and bounds in more than the sooner nine decades.
For the Telugu States, it'll be the second, homegrown bank they're going to need to abandon. State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) was the primary when it got merged with the depository financial institution of India (SBI) in April 2017.
The Andhra Bank is now on the verge of being merged with the Union Lender of India and the Corporation Bank in line with finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman’s decision to merge 10 public sector financial institutions (PSBs) and divide them into four huge-ticket banking institutions.
Sitharaman has asserted that this shift aims to supply down the number of non-undertaking assets and develop a solid banking method. Under this plan of the Centre, four sets of mergers will inherit force on Wednesday. One of these mergers will witness the Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank amalgamating into the Union Bank of India.
Andhra Bank commenced business on November 28, 1923, with a paid-up capital of 1 lakh and an authorized capital of 10 lakh. Now, the network of this bank comprises nearly 2,900 branches and almost 3,800 ATMs.
Union Bank of India director and CEO Rajkiran Rai G recently stated that the combined entity will have 9,500 branches and 12,000 ATMs all across our country. Of the 9,500 branches, 700 plus are to be rationalized due to their proximity. But it will not happen immediately.
Maybe around 300 branches are going to be rationalized within the first year, he had said. While other changes were on cards, their implementation has bogged down due to the COVID-19 triggered lockdown.
Clarity on various other aspects was also awaited, the Andhra Bank official, who didn't wish to be named, said. (Kumar, N.Ravi. “Andhra Bank Fades into History.” The Hindu. The Hindu, March 31, 2020).
As announced for the time being there was no closure of ATMs. The existing account number, IFSC code, MICR code, open-end credit number will continue even after amalgamation. Existing checkbooks and passbooks will still be valid and any change is going to be communicated beforehand.
Customers of Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank will be able to access Union Bank of India’s ATMs and vice versa without any additional charges after the merging is done.
Chief of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and Telangana’s minister T. Harish Rao mailed representations to the Centre, requesting to do away the Andhra Financial institution untouched from the merger proposal to protect the heritage and emotions related with the bank and their Telegu States.
But their appeals appear to have experienced no bearing on the center as the Finance Minister is very keen to make the banking sector more stable in order to achieve growth in the Indian Economy.
Written by - Gourav Chowdhury
Edited by - Daity Talukdar
.jpeg)
0 Comments