What You Should Know Of The Public Sector Banks Merging From April 1

As the merger of 10 public sector banks comes into effect from Wednesday, it’s important to be aware of the changes that may affect you as a customer.

AFP

New Delhi, March 31: If you are a customer of any of the 10 banks that are going to merge from April1, then it is prudent to find out how the merger will affect you as a customer. The consolidation of 10 public banks into four mega state-owned ones was announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in August 2019. The move will come in from April 1. This will bring down the number of public sector banks in India to 12 from 27 in 2017. Although there were speculations that the government may defer the consolidation exercise for some time due to Covid-19 but it will come into effect from Wednesday. However, earlier this month the cabinet gave its approval for the mergers that will consolidate operations of 10 public sector banks (PSBs) into four 'mega banks'. Here is what you should know as a customer of any of these banks to be merged. Which are the banks to be merged? According to the merger, the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and United Bank of India will be merged into (PNB), post which it will form the second-largest public sector bank in the country, after State Bank of India (SBI). Syndicate Bank will be merged into Canara Bank, which will make it the fourth-largest public sector lender while Indian Bank will be merged with Allahabad Bank. Besides, Union Bank of India will be merged with Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank How are you going to be treated? If you are a customer or depositor of merging banks you will be treated as the customer of the banks in which these banks have been merged. If you go through the FAQs on the merger of UBI and OBC with PNB, it says, "The existing Account No., IFSC, MICR, Debit Card etc. will continue post amalgamation, until further notification. Your existing account in all three amalgamating banks will continue with all its services." However, later you are likely to get a new account number and customer ID. Should you worry about auto-credits/debits? Since you had already given your bank account numbers with IFSC codes for various financial transactions, it is not going to affect any of those instructions. The anchor bank is the bank in which your bank has been merged with. Unless these accounts are seamlessly merged into the financial system of the anchor bank, there is no requirement to change the mandate of any instructions such as auto credit of dividends via ECS, auto-credit of salary, auto debit of various bills/charges etc. What happens to fixed deposit and recurring deposit rates? If you are worried about the change in rate of interest of existing RD/FD, then you should stop bothering. The current rate of interest for existing RD/FD will continue till maturity. In case of an FD, the renewal will be done with the latest term deposit rates of the amalgamated bank. Will your credit and debit cards remain valid? You need not have to bother about using the existing credit card as it will remain valid until the date of expiry printed on the credit card and then it will be renewed on its expiry. After that, you can approach the amalgamating bank to issue a fresh credit card.