Modi Govt's Next Big Move; Mega Merger of Popular Public Sector Banks!

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a series of Bank Mergings to be made to boost the Banking and Finance sectors, at a press conference in Delhi, on Friday.

Highlights of the announcements are as follows:

1 – Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India will be merged with PNB as the anchor bank. This will form the Nation’s second-largest public sector bank with a  business of around Rs.18 lakh crore.

2 – Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank will be merged to form the fourth-largest public sector bank business of around Rs. 15.20 lakh crore.

3 – Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank will be merged with business of Rs. 14.59 lakh crore.

4 – Indian Bank will be merged with Allahabad Bank to form the seventh-largest public sector bank with business around Rs. 8.08 lakh crore.

With the moves, public sector bank count will drop from 27 to 12. Bank boards will be flexible to fix sitting fee of independent directors.

Sitharam further said that to prevent Nirav Modi like frauds, SWIFT messages have been linked to the core banking system.