‘Staff need not worry about redundancies’

With the government announcing the merger of Bank of Baroda (BoB), Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank, BoB Managing Director and Chief Executive P S JAYAKUMAR told Abhijit Lele jobs will not be threatened owing to the development. Edited excerpts:

What message do you have for the employees on the merger?

The boards will have to approve the proposal. My message to employees is “keep doing what you are doing”.

Will there not be any redundancy?

There are a large number of employees retiring every month. That is a serious issue, so employees need not worry about redundancies.

There is an apprehension that the lending process may slow during the merger?

Dedicated teams will do the integration and the rest of the employees will focus on their work. We will be able to manage that. And it should impact business activity.

What is the timeline for the integration process?

The merger will take four-six months and the share-swap ratio for merging the three banks will be decided soon.

When is the board meeting to consider the merger proposal?

People in banking are working on the dates. I think it should be in 10 days.

What are the benefits that the merger will bring for the combined entity?

The combined entity will benefit from the better CASA (current account savings account) ratio from Dena Bank and for BoB, the lending will get diversified into retail and MSME, taking its loan book size up by 40 per cent.