FINMIN ASKS FOUR PSBs TO EXPLORE M&AS

New Delhi: The finance ministry has asked four large PSU lenders to explore opportunities for acquisition of small and mid-sized banks with a goal to create global sized lenders, sources said. One of the possibilities is that large public sector banks like PNB, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Bank of India could try looking for potential candidates for acquisition, they said. So, informally, the finance ministry has sounded them that they should study the possibility for M&As so as to acquire scale and size of SBI, the sources added. There are factors like regional balance, geographical reach, financial burden and smooth human resource transition that have to be looked into while taking a merger decision, they said, adding there should not be merger of a very weak bank with a strong one “as it could pull the latter down”. However, the picture would emerge only after Niti Aayog report is released.