SBI-Associates merger: 5 subsidiary banks’ branches to operate as SBI’s from Apr 1

However, unions have opposed the move to close down branches consequent to the merger. “Closure of branches was nothing but curtailment of service to the local customers,” said K S Krishna, general secretary, SBT Employees Union. “When the government and the bank management were propagating that there would not be any job losses on account of merger, bringing in VRS was an anti-employee measure,” Krishna said. Meanwhile, the bank’s board meeting will also finalise issuance of equity shares to the shareholders of three of its listed subsidiaries, which will be merged with it along with two other unlisted associates from April 1, the bank said in a stock exchange filing. The three listed associate banks are SBT, SBM and SBJB, while the two unlisted ones are SBH and SBP.

SBI will hit the overseas debt market with a $1.5-billion dollar bond sale in the next financial year. SBI, which has a board approval to raise Rs 15,000 crore through multiple routes, did not specify when it would tap the dollar bond market. The bank said its “executive committee of the central board will meet on March 24 to examine the issuance of RegS bonds worth $1.5 billion for a tenor not exceeding 5.5 years in fiscal 2018”.

The bank had tapped the foreign debt market late January and had raised $500 million in a five-year dollar bond sale. The drawdown was carried out through its London branch, and are now traded on Singapore Exchange. This bond sale was part of the bank’s $10-billion medium-term notes programme.