What will happen to Employees, Bank Branches after merger of BoB,Dena and Vijaya Bank

The announcement of the merger of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank, and Dena Bank has sent the fear of job loss to all the employees of the three banks. The shareholders were also confused. Recently, the banks have finalised their share-swap ratio. However, the employees have been protesting against the move. Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday clarified about the rationalisation of staff and branches after the merger of the banks. In a written reply in the Upper House, Shukla stated that the government had approved a framework for proposals to amalgamate PSBs through an Alternative Mechanism (AM) with a view to facilitate consolidation among public sector banks to create strong and competitive banks.

After obtaining RBI inputs, the government has notified the scheme of amalgamation for Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank. Shukla said that not even a single employee of any of the three banks will lose job.

"The scheme of amalgamation protects employee interests by providing that every serving employee of the amalgamating banks shall be an employee of the amalgamated bank and shall continue to work in accordance with Board-approved terms and conditions of service, and that the Board of the amalgamated bank shall ensure that the interests of all employees of the amalgamating banks are protected," said the minister.

Explaining the banks' turnaround plans, the minister said that out of the three aforesaid banks, turnaround plans were approved by the Board of Dena Bank in the second quarter of financial year 2017-18. 

The Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts of 1970 and 1980 empowers the Central Government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to make a scheme, inter alia, for the amalgamation of any nationalised bank with any other nationalised bank or any other banking institution.